Abstract
The streptococcic agglutinating titers of the serums of 20 patients with glomerulonephritis were determined for a strain of streptococci recovered from the blood of a patient having acute rheumatic fever. This strain had been kept on media for 9 years. It produced a green discoloration faintly on sheep blood agar when incubated at 37°C. for 24 hours. It cross agglutinated in high dilution (1:50,000 and more) with many other strains isolated from patients with acute rheumatic fever and with several strains recovered from the blood of patients having chronic arthritis.
In determining the titers the various dilutions of the serums and the suspensions of the streptococcus were incubated in Wassermann tubes in a water bath at 40°C. for 2 hours and then placed in the icebox until the next morning when the agglutinating titers were read.
All serums agglutinated in dilutions as high as 1:800. Five agglutinated at 1:800, ten at 1:1,600, one at 1:3,200, three at 1:6,400, and one at 1:12,800. The greatest number in any one dilution agglutinated at 1:1,600.
The height of the agglutinating titers of the serums in glomerulonephritis with the above strain of streptococcus was decidedly higher that that found with the same strain with the serums of 110 normal individuals, 50 patients with acute rheumatic fever, and 300 patients with chronic arthritis. The greatest percentage of the serums in these 3 conditions agglutinated the streptococcus at the dilution of 1:200, but in each there were many serums which failed to show agglutinins in dilutions as low as 1:50 and 1:100.
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