CHAPTER XVII 



BACTERIAL ANAPHYLAXIS AND ITS BEARING ON 

 THE PROBLEMS OF INFECTIOUS DISEASE 



IN the case of most serum reactions the original observations 

 were made upon the sera of bacteria-immune animals, and later ex- 

 panded into generalizations applicable to antigens as a class. This 

 was the case with the phenomena of lysis, agglutination, and precipi- 

 tation. In the case of anaphylaxis the reverse was true. The fun- 

 damental observations were made with non-bacterial antigens, but 

 the thought that analogous observations could be made with bac- 

 terial proteins was an obvious one, and since the problem was one of 

 altered susceptibility there was great promise that investigation of 

 this subject might prove of profound significance for our knowledge 

 of the pathology of infectious diseases. 



Accordingly Rosenau and Anderson, 1 in one of their earliest 

 researches, carried out experiments upon the sensitizing properties 

 of bacterial proteins. They were successful in sensitizing guinea 

 pigs with extracts of colon, tubercle, anthrax, and typhoid bacilli, 

 with Bacillus subtilis extracts, and with those of yeast. In most 

 cases they used considerable quantities of bacterial extracts and 

 obtained but slight or moderate symptoms. However, their results 

 were conclusive in showing that the anaphylactic experiment could 

 be carried out with bacterial proteins and was, in every detail, 

 analogous to the similar phenomena of serum anaphylaxis. 



Not only could the basic experiment of active sensitization be 

 carried out with these substances, but it was found that the -reaction 

 here, as in other cases, was specific, and that shock was followed by 

 a period of "antianaphylaxis" or "immunity." Rosenau and An- 

 derson suggested that the incubation time of many infectious dis- 

 eases may be represented by the period necessary for the development 

 of susceptibility after a first injection, and that tlie crisis of pneu- 

 monia might possibly find an explanation in the analogy with anaphy- 

 laxis. 



The criteria governing the successful production of bacterial 

 anaphylaxis were then studied especially by Kraus and Doerr, 2 Holo- 



1 Rosenau and Anderson. U. S. Pub. Health and M. II. S. Hyg. Lab. 

 Bull. 36, 1907. 



2 Kraus and Doerr. Wien. klin. Woch., No. 28, 1908. 



