CUTANEOUS REACTIONS IN RABBITS TO THE TYPE-SPECIFIC CAPSULAR POLYSACCHARIDES OF PNEUMOCOCCUS

The injection of the type-specific capsular polysaccharides of Pneumococcus Types I, II and III into the skin of rabbits, actively or passively immunized to one of these types of Pneumococcus, elicits a type-specific cutaneous reaction. The form of reaction resembles that described by Arthus. The reaction is produced only when type-specific precipitins for the homologous polysaccharide are demonstrable in the blood of the rabbit. In 84 per cent of actively immunized rabbits, the serum of which contained type-specific precipitins, a reaction was elicited. A positive result was obtained in 100 per cent of rabbits passively immunized with antipneumococcus horse serum whereas, attempts passively to transfer reactivity from immune rabbit to normal rabbit were unsuccessful. The recipients, in the latter group, possessed no demonstrable circulating type-specific precipitins. The reaction produced by specific capsular carbohydrates is always associated with a well grounded type-specific immunity. A brief summary of the relation of hypersensitiveness and immunity to pneumococcus is given.