Immunological Significance of Antistreptolysin O (Asl) in Streptococcal Infections Iii. The Antibody Response in Scarlet Fever Patients

Immunological Significance of Antistreptolysin O (Asl) in Streptococcal Infections Iv. The Antibody Decline in Scarlet Fever Convalescents

“…As shown in Fig. 3, the relationship at the 4th week of the disease is almost similar to that between log maximum fold-increase and log initial titer, presented in the preceding paper (Kusama et al, 1962a). Patients dealt with herein are a mixture of Groups A, B and C (classified according to the length of the persistence of Group A streptococci in the throat; see Materials and Methods in the preceding paper (Kusama et al, 1962a)), and those who are in Group A with the shortest persistence of streptococci tend to show less intense responses.…”

“…1. Persons examined: The 241 scarlet fever patients studied in the preceding report (Kusama et al, 1962a), were asked to visit the hospital at 3 months' intervals until one year 212KUSAMA et al .Vol . 15 after the onset of the disease.…”

“…The titer at the 4th week in the intially negative group was definitely lower than that in the initially positive group, and it influenced the antibody levels in later periods. However, it is entirely due to a small number of the study group, since no significant difference has been reported in the mean maximum titers of both groups, if an appropriately large number of patients were examined (Kusama et al, 1962a…”

“…In the preceding report (Kusama et al, 1962a), the mechanisms of the ASL response were investigated in scarlet fever patients from the onset of the disease to the stage of the maximum response. In the present studies, patients were examined at appropriate intervals after released from the hospital until one year after the onset of the disease.…”

Immunological Significance of Antistreptolysin O (Asl) in Streptococcal Infections I. Sero-Epidemiological Studies in Various Age Groups

“…ASL is, therefore, one of the most suitable indicators for the streptococcal infection, although it is not indicative of the immune status of man (McCarty,1954;Noguchi et al,1962;Kusama et al,1962a). One of the authors (Kusama,1958) described a method for titrating ASL in human sera which is accurate and wellsuited for serial analyses, and motivated the initiation of the present study, which deals with close examinations of the pattern of the antibody distribution in different age groups.…”