THE NON-SPECIFIC ACTIVITY OF BACTERIAL VACCINES 663 



The Non-specific Activity of Bacterial Vaccines. Owing to the 

 weight of laboratory investigations and the fundamental laws of speci- 

 ficity in immunity reactions, the sole efficacy of a bacterial vaccine has 

 been generally ascribed to the production and activity of specific anti- 

 bodies, and any deviation from this current of thought has been received 

 with a measure of skepticism and disapproval. Scattered throughout 

 the literature are the reports of more or less isolated observations that 

 in the treatment of infections, both acute and chronic, good results have 

 followed the use of non-specific substances. The subject has been recent- 

 ly studied and developed, particularly by Jobling and Petersen. 1 The 

 favorable results first reported by Krause, 2 Ichikawa, 3 and others by the 

 intravenous injection of typhoid vaccine in typhoid fever were soon 

 followed by the further reports of Kraus, of Luedke, 4 and of Miller 5 that 

 equally good results could be obtained with other substances, such as 

 colon vaccine, or even with solutions of proteins, albumose, etc., in this 

 infection. Mueller and Weiss, 6 and Saxe, Bruck, and Kiralihyda 7 have 

 obtained striking results in arthritis, especially gonorrheal arthritis, 

 by the intragluteal injection of sterile milk and of sodium nucleinate, 

 both of which substances cause a marked reaction. Smith 8 calls atten- 

 tion to the value of an anaphy lactic reaction in gonococcus infections 

 obtained with horse serum, normal or antigonococcic, it matters not, 

 provided the allergic phenomenon is manifested. Miller and Lusk 9 

 report striking results in acute, subacute, and chronic arthritic condi- 

 tions of various types by intravenous injections of typhoid vaccines 

 and proteose. It is probable that the beneficial results occasionally 

 reported in the autoserum treatment of various skin diseases may be 

 due to the same non-specific mechanism. 



In the mechanism of the non-specific activity of vaccines Jobling 

 and Petersen have mentioned (1) the probable selective stimulation of 

 the hematopoietic tissues by the non-specific stimulus, resulting in the 

 production of specific antibodies; (2) the production of hyperleukocy- 

 tosis; (3) the production of fever; (4) the mobilization of proteolytic 

 and lipolytic ferments, and (5) .an increase of antiferment. 



Furthermore, it would appear that in many cases vaccines have a 



1 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1916, 66, 1753. 2 Wien. klin. Wchnschr., 1915, xx, 29. 



3 Ztsch. f. Immunitatsf., orig., 1914, xxiii, 32. 



4 Munch, med. Wchnschr., 1915, 62, 321. 



5 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1916, Ixvi, 1756. 



6 Wien. klin. Wchnschr., 1916, xxii, 249. 



7 Munch, med. Wchnschr., 1916, Ixiii, 511. 



8 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1916, Ixvi, 1758. 



9 Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc., 1916, Ixvii, 2016. 



