20 An Introduction to Medical Mycology 



tivity was retained for 29 years after a deep tinea infection. Amberg also 

 noted a reaction delayed as long as eight days after the test was made. 

 Bloch regularly obtained positive skin reactions in patients with kerion 

 and also in those with tinea barbae. He found that the more inflammatory 

 the disease, the greater the reaction to trichophytin. The superficial tinea 

 infections gave slight or no reaction. Hanawa found that animals immune 

 as the result of a previous infection exhibited well marked reactions to 

 trichophytin. Bruck and Kusunoki found that the intensity of the reaction 

 gradually decreased when trichophytin was repeatedly injected intracu- 

 taneously. Normal subjects always gave a negative reaction to this sub- 

 stance. Sutter, Amberg and Kusunoki each reported the occasional occur- 

 rence of a positive reaction in persons free from any type of ringworm. 

 Low questioned the type of reaction in subjects free from fungous infec- 

 tion, suggesting that in these cases the reaction was nonspecific. Bloch 

 warned against the possibility of pseudoreactions, which occasionally 

 occur unless the proper technic is followed. Sutter demonstrated that the 

 number of positive reactions to trichophytin increased with age. Accord- 

 ing to Sutter, the reaction to the trichophytin test is negative during attacks 

 of pneumonia, scarlet fever, measles or typhoid fever but may be positive 

 subsequently. During chronic diseases, no change in the reaction to tricho- 

 phytin from that experienced by normal persons may be expected. In 

 cachexia, the reaction may be absent. The reaction to trichophytin was 

 also less on a paralyzed than on a normal limb. Scholtz stated that he 

 obtained a few false positive reactions and found that the reaction to 

 trichophytin was also positive in lupus vulgaris. This observation has not 

 been substantiated by others. Patients with lupus vulgaris, pityriasis rosea 

 and other diseases of the skin may also harbor a fungous eruption or may 

 have been previously sensitized by such an infection. 



Fuhs obtained a positive reaction to trichophytin in deep ringworm but 

 not in the superficial varieties. Pedersen demonstrated that the test gave 

 a stronger reaction on the abdomen, a common site for the development of 

 trichophytids, than elsewhere. Pedersen and also Sutter found that 

 a heightened reaction to trichophytin was obtainable in areas around active 

 fungous lesions rather than at more remote sites. Arnold found 14 positive 

 reactions in 130 healthy children with no history of ringworm. He also 

 found that 58 per cent of children with superficial ringworm infection 

 reacted to trichophytin. Many of the superficial infections gave more 

 marked reactions than the deep infections. Arnold confirmed the work 

 of Sutter, observing that the reaction to trichophytin was diminished or 

 absent during eruptive fevers, and also agreed with Bruck and Kusunoki 

 that a diminution in the strength of the reaction results from repeated 



