ANTI-ENZYME IMMUNITY 243 



to obtain any correlation between hyaluronidase production, type of 

 strain and virulence for man. Humphrey (1944) surveyed the hyalu- 

 ronidase production by 8 1 strains of pneumococcus isolated from suc- 

 cessive cases of pneumonia, and failed to find a correlation between the 

 amount of hyaluronidase produced and the severity of the clinical 

 infection, or between enzyme production and type. Organisms of Type 

 I rarely produced hyaluronidase. 



Kass, Lichstein and Waisbren (1945) reported that of 32 strains of 

 CI. xvelchii, 12 produced hyaluronidase. Of the 12, 11 were toxico- 

 genic. Of the 20 strains which were hyaluronidase negative, 1 1 were 

 toxicogenic. Of twenty strains isolated from cases of gas gangrene, 18 

 produced hyaluronidase. Thus, only 54 per cent of the 94 virulent 

 strains of CI. welchii produced hyaluronidase. On the basis of the re- 

 sults reported, they concluded that regardless of the role of hyaluroni- 

 dase in a gangrenous lesion, its in vitro production by a given strain of 

 CI. welchii bears no necessary relationship to the virulence of that 

 strain for mice. 



Schwabacher, et al. (1945) tested 814 strains of staphylococci and 

 micrococci from both healthy carriers and clinical infections, the latter 

 mostly wounds, for the production of hyaluronidase, "coagulase," and 

 a-hemolysin. Of the 654 coagulase-positive strains, 86.7 per cent were 

 hyaluronidase- and a-lysin, positive. Of the remainder, 4.4 per cent 

 were hyaluronidase-negative and a-hemolysin-negative, and 2 per cent 

 were negative for both. They were not clear what part hyaluronidase 

 plays in determining the virulence of a strain of Sta^phylococcus aureus. 

 (For a review on hyaluronidase in bacterial infection see Duff, Murray 

 and Fleming, 1946). 



In connection with the production of hyaluronidase by bacteria the 

 effect of the presence or absence of hyaluronic acid and its split 

 products in growth media has been studied. Meyer, et al. (1940a, 

 1940b), McClean and Hale (1941), and Kass, et al. (1945) reported 

 that the production of marked amounts of hyaluronidase by CI. welchii 

 was demonstrated when grown in the presence of hyaluronic acid. 

 Rogers (1945) reported that in peptone-free and protein-free but ade- 

 quately buffered media, strains of streptococci, CI. welchii type A, 

 staphylococci and CI. scpticum produced large amounts of hyaluroni- 

 dase. However, streptococci and CI. welchii produce an increased 

 amount of hyaluronidase in proportion to the amount of hyaluronate 



