CHAPTER I 



The Bacteriophage as an Antigen 

 1. inoculation of the bacteriophage 



The normal habitat of the bacteriophage protobe is the digestive 

 tract of animals, where it finds constantly the sole foodstuff at the 

 expense of which it subsists, living bacteria. But this does not mean 

 that the bacteriophage necessarily remains confined to the intestine. 

 As a matter of fact it may be found in the urine (d'Herelle^^°), in the 

 blood (d'Herelle^^^), and in other physiological and pathological 

 products. Without entering into a discussion of this point at present, 

 for we will later return to it, we may state that although the presence 

 of the bacteriophage in the intestine is a constant occurrence, when it is 

 found elsewhere its presence is incidental, and this in turn suggests 

 that when it is found outside of its normal habitat it must have come 

 from the intestine after passage into the circulation. 



The presence of the bacteriophage protobe within the body does 

 not lead to any disturbance and is not accompanied by any visible 

 symptoms such as would indicate its presence. I have inoculated 

 rabbits with suspensions of the Shiga-bacteriophage^^^ without inducing 

 in the animals the slightest detectable reaction. Similarly, no reac- 

 tions at all appeared among the hundreds of fowl to which I adminis- 

 tered, either by injection or by ingestion, bacteriophage races virulent 

 for Eberthella sanguinaria (B. gallinariim) .^^■^ The hundreds of buffa- 

 loes which received the bacteriophage virulent for Pasteurella bovis 

 also failed to show any reaction consequent to the injections.^^^ 



Bordet and Ciuca^^ injected 2 cc. of a Coli-bacteriophage subcuta- 

 neously into a guinea pig. Seven hours later they bled the animal, 

 observing aseptic precautions, and found that the blood contained a 

 bacteriophage virulent for B. coli. They secured the same results 

 with a rabbit which had received 20 cc. of the bacteriophage intra- 

 venously. 



Appelmans^- found that after a subcutaneous injection the bacterio- 

 phage was eliminated rapidly from the different organs and tissues. 

 It persisted in the spleen for several days after all of the other 

 organs had become ultrasterile. Table 44 summarizes the results this 



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