A METHOD FOR THE RAPID PREPARATION OF ANTIMENINGITIS SERUM

Potent antimeningitis serum can be safely produced in the horse by the method of three successive intravenous inoculations of living meningococci and parameningococci repeated at stated intervals. Sudden and alarming symptoms and sudden death are avoided by employing first a desensitizing injection and then by adjusting the doses according to the febrile reaction and by making the highly diluted injections slowly. Horses undergoing this process of immunization remain in good condition and may even gain in weight. Specific immune bodies appear in the serum early and rise rapidly. By inoculating alternately several strains of living meningococci and parameningococci, and the autolyzed products of each, a polyvalent serum of high titer can be produced in 8 to 12 weeks instead of in the 10 months required by the subcutaneous method. The serum produced by this rapid method has been employed therapeutically in America, England, France, and some other countries. It is highly desirable to isolate meningococci from many sources and test the strains against the polyvalent serum. Strains which are not agglutinated in high dilution in such a serum should be included subsequently in the lot of strains used for immunization.