APPENDIX A 

 THERAPEUTIC EMPLOYMENT OF BLOOD SERUM 



INTRODUCTION. 



SERA PREPARED BY USE OF BACTERIA OR BACTERIAL EXTRACTS. 



ANTI-STREPTOCOCCUS SERUM. 



ANTI-MENINGOCOCCUS SERUM. 



ANTI-PNEUMOCOCCUS SERUM. 



ANTI-CHOLERA SERUM. 



ANTI-ANTHRAX SERUM. 



ANTI-PLAGUE SERUM. 



ANTI-BACTERIAL SERUM FOR DIPHTHERIA CARRIERS. 



ANTI-GONOCOCCUS SERUM. 



ANTI-TUBERCULOSIS SERUM. 



ANTI-TYPHOID SERUM. 

 AUTO-SERUM THERAPY. 



GENERAL USES. 



SYPHILIS. 



HUMAN IMMUNE SERUM. 

 SERUM THERAPY IN INFECTIONS OF UNDETERMINED ETIOLOGY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



ANTI-POLIOMYELITIS SERUM. 

 ANTI- HOG-CHOLERA SERUM. 

 THERAPEUTIC USE OF NORMAL SERUM. 



THE development of immunology has resulted in extensive study 

 of the treatment of disease by sera prepared according to a variety of 

 methods. We have considered in other chapters the value of certain 

 sera, more particularly those which possess a demonstrable content of 

 antitoxin. In this chapter there is presented a brief statement as to the 

 methods oi preparation and use of other types of sera with the idea 

 of illustrating how widely this form of therapeusis has extended and 

 the principles upon which the methods are founded. Certain of these 

 sera have given excellent results, but others have failed utterly and still 

 others are yet in the stage of experiment and investigation. The judg- 

 ment as to the value of many of the sera rests upon statistical evidence 

 collected on a clinical basis. The use of man for investigation intrudes 

 into the results obtained a wide variety of sources of error, many of 

 which can be excluded in investigations upon the lower animals. Dif- 

 ferences in hygienic surroundings, conditions of exposure, presence of 

 diseases other than that treated, differences in weight, age and sex 

 must all be considered. The stage of increase or decrease of the epi- 

 demic must be included in the final judgment since the virulence of 

 infections is likely to be greater at the beginning of an epidemic than 

 during its decline ; this may be due to exhaustion of the causative agent, 

 but is more probably accounted for in that the less resistant individuals 

 succumb early in the epidemics and the more resistant are attacked sub- 

 sequently. The factor of error in random sampling must be calculated 

 as closely as possible and it must be recognized that the greater the 

 number of cases studied, the more conclusive are the results. The 

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