The Value of Immunological and Bacteriological Tests in the Management of Scarlet Fever

Frew, Hugh W. O (1930) The Value of Immunological and Bacteriological Tests in the Management of Scarlet Fever. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

In this work nearly 40 toxins were prepared from various cultures of Haemolytic Streptococci and, of these, 33 were tested for their toxic content. The toxins, in their proper dilutions and with their corresponding control solutions, were injected into a series of patients all of whom gave strong, well-marked reactions to the standard toxin, in this case the product of Messrs. Burroughs Wellcome & Co. Each toxin was tested on one patient. Results obtained in this way are open to doubt. We, however, consider that, if the "Knightswood toxin" is unable to produce positive reactions in cases which react in a positive manner to the standard toxin, even in very low dilutions, then that "toxin" is very deficient or is totally lacking in toxin. The reactions noted in Table 48 demonstrate that the results obtained are, in practically every case, of much lower value than those obtained by use of the Standard Toxin. We were able to obtain positive reactions in only approximately 50% of the toxins prepared from cultures from throat swabs but the percentage was much higher in the case of toxins prepared from the other cultures of haemolytic streptococci. It should be recognised that no attempt was made to endeavour to prove that the toxins prepared in the present work were identical with the true Dick Toxin or to establish, in this way, the identity of the streptococci used. To accomplish this we would require to perform neutralisation tests which, even in the most suitable cases, are difficult to interpret and are often unsatisfactory. All that was attempted in the present work was to investigate the toxin forming properties of certain streptococci which were recovered from Scarlet Fever patients. We find that some of these organisms do produce toxins in quite definite amounts while others completely fail to do so. This method of assessing the toxin production of different haemolytic streptococci is long and often difficult and we do not consider it of sufficient value to he carried out as part of the routine work in the examination of Throat Swabs from convalescent Scarlet Fever patients.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Medicine, Immunology, Microbiology
• Date of Award: 1930
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1930-79892
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 03 Mar 2020 10:26
• Last Modified: 03 Mar 2020 10:26
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/79892