Abstract
Summary
Both acid and serum agglutination of Park 8 strain of B. diphtherice are inhibited when the organisms are first sensitized with diphtheria antitoxin; when diphtheria-agglutinating serum is used instead of antitoxin, serum agglutination is inhibited but not acid agglutination.
This inhibition phenomenon with antitoxin is specific, at least for the Park 8 strain.
It is not definitely established whether it is a test for antitoxin; it is possible that the phenomenon may be due to agglutinoids, or to a diphtheria antibody not noted heretofore.
Nicolle, Debains and Cbsari4 have described a qualitative test for toxin and antitoxin which is based on a precipitin reaction It is evident from the results above that while the test may be specific for the diphtheria bacillus and for the other organisms used by them, it should be subjected to further investigation before it can be accepted as specific for toxin and antitoxin as defined by Ehrlich's guinea-pig test.
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