ALLERGIC REACTIONS IN TYPHOID FEVER 649 



established as the course of infectious abortion of cattle. The English 

 Commission 1 prepared and used a glycerine extract of Bacillus abortus 

 in the same manner as tuberculin, and with success; Meyer and Harden- 

 bergh 2 have prepared a precipitated purified abortin with which highly 

 specific reactions have been observed; Reichel and Harkins 3 have em- 

 ployed an intraderrnal test with a suspension of heat-killed and washed 

 bacilli. The results of these investigations indicate that the abortin 

 test is highly specific; as with other anaphy lactic reactions, this test 

 does not serve to differentiate the actively infected from the recovered 

 animals, but when applied to a herd will show whether or not Bang's 

 disease is or has been a source of infection among the animals. 



ALLERGIC REACTIONS IN TYPHOID FEVER 



In 1907 Chantemesse 4 observed characteristic inflammatory symp- 

 toms follow the installation of typhoid bacilli extract into the eye of 

 patients suffering from typhoid fever. Kraus 5 and his associates, re- 

 peating these experiments, could not convince themselves of the specific- 

 ity of this reaction, stating that healthy individuals also give it to some 

 extent, and that other bacterial extracts cause similar symptoms in 

 typhoid-fever patients. In addition he tried a cutaneous reaction, 

 but without result. Zupnik, 6 on the contrary, states that a cutaneous 

 reaction is useful, while the ophthalmic reaction is not useful. Deehan 7 

 obtained a weak to moderate reaction in 12 cases of typhoid fever, 

 whereas eight control cases showed none. Floyd and Barker 8 obtained 

 positive results in 19 out of 30 cases and none in 18 controls, including 

 two cases of paratyphoid fever. Chaufford and Trosier* reported 

 unfavorably on the reaction. 



Austrian 10 has reported very favorably upon an ophthalmic reaction 

 in typhoid fever following the installation of " typho-protein " prepared 

 by cultivating a large number of different strains of typhoid bacilli, 

 precipitating the protein with alcohol, drying the precipitate, and re- 



1 Report of Departmental Committee on Epizootid Abortion, London, 1909, 

 Part I. 



2 Jour. Infect. Dis., 1813, 13, 35 



3 Jour. Amer. Vet. Med. Assoc., March, 1917. 



4 Deut. med. Wchnschr., 1907, 33, 1572. 

 6 Wien. klin. Wchnschr., 1907, 20, 1335. 



6 Munch, med. Wochenschr., 1908, 45, 148. 



7 Univ. Penn. Med. Bull., 1909, 22, 6. 



8 Amer. Jour. Med. Sci., 1909, 38, 188. 



9 Compt. rend. Soc. de Biol., 1909, Ixvi, 519. 



10 Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp., 1912, 23, 1. 



