Cutaneous allergy in gonococcal infections ... / by Ernest Edward Irons.

  • Irons, Ernest E. (Ernest Edward), 1877-
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cutaneous allergy in gonococcal infections ... / by Ernest Edward Irons. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    in place of distilled water for making the suspensions, and the latter was adopted to avoid the possible irritant action of the salt in the concentrated product. Material for control inoculation was prepared in precisely the same manner, using the washing from the same number of unin- oculated culture tubes. Cultures from five strains of gonococci were combined in the antigen used in most of these cutaneous tests. Experiments with antigens made from single strains showed that in some instances the reaction from one of the strains was less than that from the others. The strains used were derived from cases of arthritis and urethritis. In a case of vaginitis and ophthalmia an autogenous antigen gave the same degree of reaction as did the stock antigen of three combined strains. Cultures of the gonococcus from 24-hour blood agar transfers were planted on large tubes (2.5 cm.Xis cm.) of slanted ascites agar and incubated for 24 hours. Care was taken that the seeding of the surface of the slants was uniform, and drying of the surface was prevented by cork stoppers in the tubes. The suspension obtained from six tubes was used in the preparation of i c.c. of the final product. A somewhat more exact method of preparing the antigen was attempted by evaporating a suspension to dryness, and then taking up the weighed powdered residue in glycerin. This residue neces- sarily contained some soluble products from the culture medium, in addition to substances derived from the gonococcus. Serial dilutions of this extract were prepared, and the reactions obtained with them compared with the reactions from the extract prepared by the first method. It was found that an extract containing o. i gm. of the powdered residue in i c.c. of glycerin gave approximately the same degree of reaction as did the extract prepared by the first method. The reactions were progressively less, the greater the dilution of the gonococcin. A dilution of the extract containing o.ooi gm. per c.c. of glycerin gave a faint reaction in allergic indi\'iduals. The time allowed for autolysis of the suspensions of the gono- coccus seemed to affect the strength of the gonococcin. An antigen