[Comparative characteristics of the toxic properties of the whooping cough microbes]

The author presents materials concerning the study of the toxic properties of 12 pertussis cultures used in the USSR for the production of vaccines. As a result of studying the toxic properties of the microbes in the test of the change of the weight of mice, and in experiments of testing the anaphylactogenic and histamine-sensitizing activities it was revealed that the strains of pertussis microbes differed by the quantitative content in them of the thermolabile toxin, endotoxin, lymphocytosis-stimulating and histamine-sensitizing factors; therefore, the period of keeping the pertussis suspensions for 1.5 months from the moment of detoxication proved to be inadequate for some of the strains. Since the toxic properties of the strains failed to correlate with their protective activity, in recommendation of pertussis strains for the production of pertussis vaccine preference should be given to the strains with lesser toxic properties.