Allergy to cow's milk in infants with severe malnutrition

Abstract

There is much evidence to indicate that under certain conditions the intestinal tract of infants is permeable to slightly altered or unaltered protein.

This has been demonstrated to be true of egg protein by Lust, Hyashi, Schloss and Worthen and others and for the proteins of cow's milk by Modigliani and Benini and Schloss and Worthen. These investigations were based on the demonstration of the protein in the blood or urine by means of precipitin tests or anaphylactic tests on guinea pigs. Such passage of unaltered or partially digested protein is especially apt to occur in malnourished infants or in those suffering from diarrhea.

The investigations cited all show the possibility of foreign protein entering the blood stream through the intestinal wall. If this were a frequent occurrence it would seem of interest to determine whether the entrance of foreign protein under these conditions provoked the production of antibodies. This question is probably of more than academic importance. Moro found precipitines to cow's milk in the blood of 2 out of 24 atrophic infants examined post mortem. Bauer demonstrated precipitines in the blood of 4 atrophic infants.

During the past two years we have conducted investigations on infants with nutritional disorders to determine the frequency with which antibodies to milk occur in the blood.

Precipitin tests for antilmlly were done as follows: To 1 C.C. of milk dilutions of 1-100, 1-500 and 1-1000 was added 0.1 C.C. of the serum to be tested. The tests were read after incubation for 1 hour at 37.5’C, the tubes were then kept on ice for 24 hours and read a second time.

In the earlier tests controls of normal human serum and normal rabbit or sheep serum were used.