ACTIVE IMMUNIZATION TO HAY FEVER* 



MARK J. GOTTLIEB and SEYMOUR OPPENHEIMER 



(Laboratory of Biological Chemistry of Columbia University] at the College of 



Physicians and Surgeons, and the Laboratory of Clinical Research, 45 



East öoth'St., New York, N. Y.) 



Introduction. Hay fever, or pollinosis, is a disease which 

 manifests itself in the spring, from the latter part of May or the 

 early part of June to the early part or middle of July ; and in the 

 autumn, from the middle of August to the end of September or 

 early October. It is characterized by itching of the eyes and lach- 

 rymation, sneezing, serous discharge from the nose, obstructed 

 breathing, and itching of the palate and face. If the attack is very 

 severe, sooner or later there is coughing, and difficult breathing 

 accompanied by wheezing. It is caused by the action of poUen 

 grains from flowering plants, the pollen being carried by air cur- 

 rents and thus inhaled. If the recipient is susceptible to a partic- 

 ular pollen, an attack of hay fever promptly ensues. 



In 1906 Wolff-Eisner (i) suggested that this disease was a con- 

 ditionof anaphylaxis. Dunbar (2) has studied the subject exhaust- 

 ively and Claims that, besides hypersusceptibility to the pollen 

 "toxin," there must be, in patients subject to this condition, an 

 abnormal permeability of the skin and mucous membranes for the 

 pollen substances. This last fact we have demonstrated to my own 

 satisf action by dropping a small quantity of pollen on the skin of 

 the face, when redness and itching were soon manifest; also by 

 dropping a minute quantity of pollen on the conjunctiva, in a very 

 short time redness and swelling of the lids occurring. 



Riebet and Hericourt (3) in 1898 applied the name of anaphy- 

 laxis to a Symptom complex of vomiting, diarrhea, respiratory dis- 

 tress, and sometimes death, w^hich was produced in animals by a sub- 

 lethal dose of toxic protein, or by a dose of non-toxic protein, fol- 



* Proceedings of the Columbia University Biochemical Association, June i, 

 1914; BiocHEM. Bull., 1915, iv, p. 205. 



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