392 IMMUNOLOGY 



. The Ag-g-lutination Reaction in Other Specific Infectious and 

 Toxemic Diseases. — S. Dysenteriae. — There are several strains of 

 >S^. dysenteriae which differ antigenically. Infection with the Shiga 

 strain induces agglutinins in the patient for that strain but not 

 for the one described by Flexner. The converse also holds. Shiga 

 discovered the dysentery baciUus by isolating various organisms 

 from the stools of clinical cases and ascertaining which were agglu- 

 tinated by the patient's serum. 



Glanders. — In glanders, specific agglutinins develop as a rule 

 for P. mallei. Tlie agglutination test has found definite applica- 

 tion in the diagnosis of this disease. Human infection witli P. 

 mallei is relatively rare. Whitmore (1913) described a glanders- 

 like disease in man due to a new organism that has since been 

 called B. whitmori by the English bacteriologists but named 

 Flavobacterium pseudomallei by Bergey. Stanton and Fletcher 

 (1925), Thompson (1933) and also Sherwood and Lan (1933) have 

 observed antigenic relationships between B. whitmori and certain 

 strains of P. mallei. The last named authors also noted some slight 

 antigenic relationship between B. whitmori and an organism iso- 

 hited by Sherwood from a case of meningitis in the central part 

 of the United States. This latter organism has been named 

 Flavohaderium orchitidis by Bergey. It is culturally and other- 

 wise quite similar to B. whitmori except for the weak antigenic 

 relationship. This is of interest since no strain of the latter organ- 

 ism has been isolated from any source outside of Asia. 



Asiatic Cholera, and a Few Other Diseases. — The agglutina- 

 tion reaction is of little or no value in the diagnosis of Asiatic 

 cholera, cholera carriers, diphtheria and scarlet fever because of 

 the great irregularity in the appearance of agglutinins in tliese 

 diseases. 



Test for Heterophile Antibodies in Acute Infectious Mononu- 

 cleosis. — The titer of normal hetcrohemaggliitinins in liuman 

 blood for sheep cells is usually less than 1 :32. Paul and Bunnell 

 (1932) discovered that this titer is increased quite extensively 

 in most cases of acute infectious mononucleosis. Their discovery 

 is now considered of diagnostic importance. 



Identification by Ag-g^lutination or Precipitation. — In the study 

 of bacteria isolated from various sources such as typhoid fever. 



