Infection, immunity and serum therapy : in relation to the infectious diseases which attack man; with considerations of the allied subjects of agglutination, precipitation, hemolysis, etc. / by H. T. Ricketts.

  • Ricketts, Howard Taylor, 1871-1910.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Infection, immunity and serum therapy : in relation to the infectious diseases which attack man; with considerations of the allied subjects of agglutination, precipitation, hemolysis, etc. / by H. T. Ricketts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    Acquired Immunity. Natural Immunity. Family Suscep- tibility and Immunity. although some of the most striking and certainly the most common examples of immunity are seen in relation to such infections (as scarlet fever and smallpox). Tetanus, on the other hand, which is absolutely non-contagious, can likewise give rise to a high degree of immunity. jSTo medical fact is more widely known among intelligent people than that an attack of certain of our infectious diseases brings about some kind of change in the patient's tissues which protects him, or renders him immune, against further at- tacks of the same disease. Inasmuch as he was previously susceptible, the new property is an ac- quired one,, and he is now said to possess an ac- quired immunit}^ against this infection. It is also well known that many diseases which attack man can not be inoculated into animals, and biologists are familiar with many examples of immunity which are confined to particular spe- cies. The lower animals apparently can not be in- fected with scarlet fever or measles, nor man with chicken cholera. The negro is less susceptible than the white man to yellow fever. The resist- ance which these examples illustrate has occurred naturally, not through having the disease; it is a natural immunity. Natural immunity is, for the most part, an in- herited condition; this certainly is the case where a whole class of animals is involved. Similarly, the susceptibility which is peculiar to a species must be hereditary. It is often said of some dis- eases that they run in families; e. g., carcinoma, gout, insanity. This appears to be just as true of some infectious diseases, the most noteworthy ex- ample of which is probably tuberculosis. In con-