134 FUNGUS DISEASES OF MAN AND ANIMALS 



Negroni ^^ isolated a carbohydrate which he beheved came from 

 the capsular material of Candida albicans and was responsible for 

 the agglutinating and complement-fixing properties of the fungus. 

 Martin, using a saline suspension of the yeast-like form of Blasto- 

 myces dermatitidis and otherwise following the usual procedures of 

 the Wassermann tests, demonstrated complement-fixing antibodies in 

 the serum of three of four patients with generalized blastomycosis. 

 There did not appear to be any cross reaction with other pathogenic 

 fungi. He found no relationship between the clinical condition of 

 the patient and the presence of complement-fixing antibodies in the 

 blood. 



Allergic Reactions. More significant results seem to have been 

 obtained from a study of allergic reactions than from other phases of 

 immunity with the fungi. In 1908 Bloch * established that after an 

 experimental skin infection with Microsporum quinckeanum had 

 been established in guinea pigs, the animals were immune to rein- 

 oculation over the entire skin surface. This immunity is in general 

 not species-specific, the animal remaining also refractory to other 

 distantly related species of dermatophytes. If one does succeed in 

 establishing a second infection, the inflammatory reaction is more 

 acute and the lesion heals more quickly than in a control animal. A 

 similar immunity was demonstrated in human cases where deep- 

 seated lesions occurred. 



Inoculations of filtrates of old broth cultures of the fungus gave 

 rise to a characteristic papule in human cases if deep-seated lesions 

 were present, but not when the lesions were superficial. This allergic 

 reaction also proved non-specific, infections with different species 

 of dermatophytes giving reactions with the same antigen. 



Further observations were reported later by Bloch and Massini,^ 

 among them the following interesting experiment. Skin from a pa- 

 tient allergic to ringworm fungi was transplanted to a non-sensitive 

 individual. After the graft was established, it was found that this 

 area of skin was still hypersensitive, although the "native" skin of 

 the recipient did not become sensitized. It was also claimed that 

 deep-seated infections healed more rapidly after establishing an 

 artificial infection with M. quinckeanum, an observation which was 

 confirmed by Plant. 



The use of trichophytin (extracts of species of Trichophyton) 

 diagnostically and therapeutically has been widely studied by derma- 

 tologists. It seems to have been established that these extracts reg- 

 ularly give reactions in patients in whom deep-seated lesions occur, 

 less regularly in others; that the reaction may persist for some time 



