Abstract
The effect of sodium salicylate on the development of dermal allergy in the presence of hemolytic streptococcal arthritis was studied because this drug is commonly employed in the treatment of acute rheumatic fever, and because the studies of Swift 1 concerning the pathogenesis of this disease support the idea that allergy to streptococci of various kinds is a factor in its production.
As previously reported by us, 2 the production of arthritis in rabbits by the inoculation into a knee joint of 0.1 cc. of 24 hour broth culture of hemolytic streptococcus will be followed, in 6 days, by the appearance of a strongly positive local reaction to intradermal injection of a filtrate of a 5 day culture in Harley's medium. This skin reaction takes 12 to 24 hours to develop. All rabbits were tested previous to the experiment and found to give no such reaction.
In this study 24 rabbits were employed, 12 of which received sodium salicylate and 12 were used as controls. Of those which received sodium salicylate, 6 received the drug for a considerable period before receiving an intra-articular injection of 0.1 cc. of culture of hemolytic streptococcus; and 6 rabbits received the drug and the culture at the same time. The dose of sodium salicylate was 0.2 gm. per kilo in 4% solution and was given intravenously. The first series of 6 received 8 daily injections of salicylate and after an interval of 12 days, during which the animals were in good health, received 6 more injections given at 2 day intervals. After the injection of streptococci into the knee joint, 3 more daily injections of sodium salicylate were used and 3 days later skin tests were made.
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