COMPLEMENT FIXATION 133 



ciples to the diagnosis and treatment of mycoses, reported that ag- 

 glutination reactions were generally unsatisfactory for most of the 

 mycoses. Drake ^^ demonstrated "natural agglutinins" against five 

 different yeast-like fungi and concluded that they are normal human 

 serum constituents. 



Precipitins. Very little study of precipitins has been carried on. 

 Cummins and Sanders ^* recorded negative results with sera of pa- 

 tients and inoculated guinea pigs in coccidioidal granuloma. Michel 

 obtained no reactions with Candida albicans in cases of sprue. 

 Matsumoto obtained precipitates when the sera of rabbits immunized 

 with species of Aspergillus were tested against broth filtrates, but 

 not with extracts of mycelium. The reactions were not definitely 

 specific. Henrici was unable to demonstrate precipitins with sera 

 of rabbits intensively immunized with cell sap of Aspergillus fumi- 

 gatus and C ephalosporium Acremonium. 



Stone and Garrod *'^ reported that the precipitin and complement 

 fixation reactions of strains of C. albicans they cultivated from 

 thrush were similar. Kesten and Mott ^^ prepared polysaccharides 

 from several yeasts and yeast-like fungi and with them obtained 

 serums which they used to produce precipitin reactions. 



Complement Fixation. Widal ^° and his coworkers found com- 

 plement fixation positive in sporotrichosis, as with agglutination, 

 and found the same cross reactions with thrush and actinomycosis. 

 Epstein ^° found the complement fixation reaction positive only once 

 in twenty cases of thrush. Cummins and Sanders ^* obtained no com- 

 plement fixation in coccidioidal granuloma. Matsumoto ^'^ obtained 

 more marked results with complement fixation than with precipita- 

 tion in his studies of the Aspergilli, but found no correlation between 

 the grouping of species by complement fixation and their morpho- 

 logical characters. 



Smith, although much of the details of his work are not yet pub- 

 lished, reported that the complement fixation reaction gives useful 

 information about the progress and probable prognosis in dissem- 

 inated coccidioidomycosis. Martin states that in blastomycosis the 

 titer of complement-fixing antibodies is low even in the presence of 

 extensive skin lesions if the infection is not systemic. AVith increas- 

 ing involvement of the internal organs there is usually a correspond- 

 ing rise in antibody titer. Conversely, a fall in titer indicates in 

 most cases an improvement in the prognosis. Some individuals do not 

 produce antibodies and the complement fixation reaction alone, 

 therefore, is not a reliable diagnostic test. 



