Abstract
At the suggestion of Professor M. Besredka and through his kindness in sending the tuberculin prepared by him as described in his communication before the Academy of Sciences, 2 I started a series of blood tests in tuberculosis. As the antigen contained egg yolk it was decided to carry in each case a control with a pure lipoid antigen (Noguchi). 3 In the first hundred cases I found a surprising number giving positive tuberculosis as well as positive Wassermann reaction. A special study of the possible coëxistence of the two diseases was made, and a solution of the problem was attempted by the following several ways. (1) Seven patients giving both W. R. and T. R. positive were subjected to a rigorous anti-syphilitic treatment, and at present five of them have lost the W. R., tuberculosis reaction persisting. (2) The presence of the two antibodies was proven by independent titration of each with five units of corresponding antigens. (3) It was found that the inactivation of serum containing both antibodies did not affect the two similarly. (4) Finally one antibody was exhausted from the serum by repeated incubation with antigen and complement and subsequently the other antibody was proven to be still present.
The experiments described above carried various controls which are very complicated and will be fully described elsewhere.
In the course of experiments through the kindness of Dr. W. H. Park and Dr. A. A. McNeil, of New York, and Dr. Schildecker, Dr. Boyce and other members of the staff of this hospital, three hundred and twenty cases in all were examined up to date, comprising different conditions : typhoid, specific meningitis, tuberculosis, pernicious anemia, cancer, pneumonia, scarlet fever, lupus, diphtheria, syphilis, gonorrhea, trichinosis and various surgical conditions, with following results.
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