22,4 Goodpasture: Complement Fixation in Leprosy 427 



antigen was not anticomplementary with twice the amount used 

 in the test. Normal and syphilitic sera were used as controls. 

 In interpreting the results, both with lipoidal antigen and with 

 bacterial suspensions, 4+ indicates no haemolysis; 3+, faint 

 haemolysis; 2-f, strong haemolysis; and 1+, almost complete 

 haemolysis. 



For a comparative study of the reaction in untreated and 

 treated cases three groups were selected, all of the nodular or 

 mixed type. In the first group were 13 clinically and bacte- 

 riologically positive cases who had received no treatment; in the 

 second, 14 cases who had been receiving injections of chaul- 

 moogra oil or its products for several months but were still 

 clinically and microscopically positive; in the third, 16 who had 

 become bacteriologically negative after varying lengths of time 

 under similar treatment. These three groups are tabulated in 

 Tables 1, 2, and 3. 



The total number of cases is small, but the results, as far 

 as they go, are definite and significant. In the group of un- 

 treated cases the percentage of positives was the average, that 

 is, 60 ; in the second group the percentage is considerably higher, 

 indicating the possibility of an increase in strength of comple- 

 ment-fixing substances during treatment, perhaps analogous to 

 the so-called "provocative reaction" in syphilis. Finally, the 

 sixteen cases of the third, or bacteriologically negative, group 

 all allowed complete haemolysis. 



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