Since the discovery b y N e t t e r (1) and Levaditi (2) of the presence of virus-neutralizing antibodies in the blood, both from human convalescents and from monkeys recovered from experimental poliomyelitis, several attempts have been made to immunize large animals with a view to quantity production of therapeutic serum.
The results of a series of tests carried out by Lewis' showed that 2 units of antitoxin contained in 0.05 c.c. of horse serum given one hour previously protected rabbits which received about 10 fatal doses of diphtheria toxin. Both injections were given intravenously. When rabbits were sensitized by a previous injection of either normal or antitoxic horse serum, several times as much antitoxin was required. The amounts were not graded sufficiently to state the results more accurately.Lewis recognizes that the experiments are limited in number and suggests that the curve of absorption of antitoxin in man as developed by J. Henderson Smith" be elaborated to cover the case of human beings who have received previous injections of normal or antitoxic horse serum. During the course of our studies upon the influence of protein concentration upon the absorption of antitoxin (see p. 338) we had an opportunity to make observations upon men which have a direct bearing upon this question. Also, further tests of like nature were carried out on goats. The results obtained from our tests have been plotted on charts for ease of comparison.
EXPERIMENTS WITH MEN.The data pertaining to the men are briefly submitted, as follows: S. received on February II, 1913, an initial injection subcutaneously of 10,000 units diphtheria antitoxin in 4.5 c.c. volume of a preparation containing 17.2 per cent of pseudoglobulin. Two months later he received a second injection of a preparation containing the same number of antitoxic units and amount of pseudoglobulin but diluted to 9 c.c. volume. This was followed by a moderate local reaction.' F.
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