ALLERGIC REACTIONS IN OTHER DISEASES 609 



volume by evaporation over an acetone bath for about eight hours. 

 A control solution of sterile 5 per cent, glycerin bouillon is prepared in 

 the same manner. 



The skin of the forearm is cleansed with alcohol, and two abrasions 

 are made with the von Pirquet borer, as described under the cutaneous 

 tuberculin test. The "typhoidin" is applied to one cut and the control 

 fluid to the other. The reactions are observed six and twenty-four 

 hours later. Occasionally there is a traumatic reaction in the control, 

 but a positive reaction may be detected by a wider areola and increased 

 induration. 



Positive reactions were secured in 95 per cent, of cases that had re- 

 covered from typhoid fever, two of the cases having had the disease 

 respectively forty-one and thirty-three years before. The reaction was 

 found negative in 85 per cent, of individuals not having typhoid fever. 

 Of 15 persons immunized by the army method, from four and three- 

 quarter years to eight months previously, nine gave a positive skin 

 reaction. Twenty-four individuals immunized by a sensitized vaccine 

 (Gay and Claypoole) for from one to eight months previously reacted 

 positively. The test is advocated as a means of determining whether 

 or not a person possesses immunity to typhoid fever, either acquired 

 by recovery from the disease or by artificial immunization. 



ALLERGIC REACTIONS IN OTHER DISEASES 



Gonococcus Infections. In 1908 Irons 1 reported general and local 

 reactions in persons suffering from gonococcus infections following the 

 subcutaneous injection of gonococcal vaccines. This reaction has been 

 observed by Bruck 2 in epididymitis, by Reiter 3 in pelvic infections in 

 women, and also by other observers in other conditions. 



Experiments with glycerin extracts of the gonococcus prepared from 

 several strains, singly or combined in one preparation, have yielded 

 Irons 4 well-defined cutaneous reactions. These tests were conducted 

 after the method of von Pirquet's tuberculin test. 



Diphtheria. Shick has advocated the intracutaneous injection of a 

 minute dose of diphtheria toxin as a test for antitoxin in the serum of an 

 individual. If sufficient antitoxin is present, the toxin is neutralized 

 and no local disturbances are apparent; otherwise local inflammatory 



1 Jour. Infect. Dis., 1908, v, 279. 2 Deut. med. Wochenschr., 1909, xxxv, 470. 



3 Zeitschr. f. Geburtsh. u. Kinderh., 1911, Ixviii, 471. 



4 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1912, Iviii, 931. 



39 



