Abstract
Summary
Evidence has been presented indicating that in vivo synergism exists between Staphylococcus aureus and Proteus vulgaris when these organisms are injected into Webster-Swiss mice. By using combinations of live and heat-killed cultures of these organisms as well as extracts of the staphylococcus it has been demonstrated that the apparent lethal infectious agent in this combination is proteus and that some product elaborated by the staphylococcus is responsible for the enhancement of virulence of the proteus challenge. Although the mechanism of this interaction is not understood, it has been suggested that in this phenomenon the staphylococcal product acts in a manner similar to that of gram-negative bacterial endotoxins. Furthermore, this material is extractable by procedures used for extraction of such endotoxins. It has been shown also that the Staphylococcus epidermidis strains so far examined do not appear to have the same infection-enhancing properties as the coagulase-positive S. aureus strains which have been tested.
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