572 MICROBIOLOGY OF SPECIAL INDUSTRIES 



Wright and Douglas first advanced the theory of opsonic action, and 

 suggested that the subcutaneous injection of a given species of bacteria, 

 killed by heating, caused the blood of the treated individual to exert 

 greater opsonic activity toward the species of organisms in question. 

 The results of the work of others proved to be confirmatory. 



To prepare a bacterial vaccine, the specific organism is isolated and 

 after being grown for twenty-four hours or longer at a temperature of 

 37°, it is emulsified in sterile physiological salt solution, heated at 

 approximately 60°, or killed by the use of chemical agents, standardized 

 as to the number of bacteria present in i c.c. of the emulsion, and a 

 preservative added. 



If the patient and attending physician are conveniently situated in 

 respect to a laboratory, the "opsonic index" may be takefi before and 

 during the treatment. This consists in the determination of the aver- 

 age number of the given species of bacteria ingested by the leucocytes 

 of the patient, as compared to that which the leucocytes of normal 

 blood are capable of destroying". It is usually found that immediately 

 following the injection of specific bacterial vaccine there is a "negative 

 phase" during which the leucocytes of the patient destroy a smaller 

 number of bacteria. This is followed by a "positive phase," character- 

 ized by more active phagocytosis. For practical purposes the determi- 

 nation of the opsonic index is unnecessary as the clinical reaction fol- 

 lowing the injection of a given vaccine indicates correct dosage and 

 progressive results of the treatment. 



The use of bacterial vaccines has yielded excellent results espe- 

 cially in the curative treatment of furunculosis, acne, sycosis, puerperal 

 infection, arthritis and other affections caused by pyogenic organisms, 

 and in chronic infections of the genito-urinary tract. The material 

 may be used in the form of "autogenous" or "stock" vaccines. An 

 autogenous (personal) bacterial vaccine is one prepared from a culture 

 of the specific organism isolated from the case under treatment. 

 Bacterial vaccines, prepared from stock cultures of the specific organ- 

 isms, may be manufactured and kept until needed for use. Some of 

 the more common stock bacterial vaccines represent the following 

 organisms alone or in various combinations; Sirept. pyogenes, M. 

 pyogenes var. (albus, aureus and citreus), M. gonorrhoea, Bact. pertussis, 

 M. pneumonias, and B. coli communis. 



The study of bacterial vaccines occupies a position of so much 

 importance in preventive medicine and therapeutics that many new 



