Abstract
The currently accepted explanation of the frequent presence in normal human adults, as contrasted with young children, of antibodies such as diphtheria antitoxin and the substance that neutralizes the virus of poliomyelitis, is that the antibodies have been specifically generated by an unnoticed or a subclinical infection. The occurrence of normal bacterial agglutinins in the blood of various adult domestic animals, as demonstrated by Burgi, Gibson and others, has suggested some observations upon the influence of age on the presence and abundance of these antibodies. These agglutinins are common in the blood of cattle, they are specific at least to the extent of being removed by absorption with specific bacterial cells and they comprise both the H and O antigenic types.
The standard macroscopic agglutination technique was used. The serum was freshly obtained from cattle brought to the Chicago stockyards, and was from 3 groups: (a) calves (under 1 year); (b) heifers (approximately 1-2 years); (c) “cows and steers”. The table shows, as observed by others, that there is considerable variation in the amounts of agglutinins for different bacterial strains, and without exception, agglutination is greater, often in a very striking degree, in the serum of the older animals than in that of the calves. The animals classed as heifers appear to have about the same amount of bacterial agglutinins in their blood as the older animals, but the titers average somewhat lower. There also appears to be a sex difference, for simplification's sake not indicated in the table. The serum of females contains on the average a distinctly greater amount of agglutinins than that of males.
Some observers have used strains of the Salmonella group to test for the presence of normal agglutinins. 1
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