Abstract
During the study of the therapeutic value of specific bacteriophage in experimental staphylococcus skin infections in rabbits it was observed that certain strains of bacteriophage, instead of promoting the healing, have caused a temporary intensification of the local reaction. Suspecting that this effect might have been due to the presence of the “Reynals Spreading Factor” in the bacteriophage lysate, the following experiments were performed.
An 18-hour agar slant culture of non-invasive staphylococci was suspended in 10 cc. of sterile distilled water, diluted with an equal volume of broth, and 1 cc. of the resulting suspension was injected intracutaneously into two sites on each flank of each of the 5 rabbits. The hair on both flanks was removed by means of barium sulphide 2 days previous to injection. The sites of the injections in 4 of the rabbits were covered by wet dressings consisting of a piece of folded gauze on top of which was placed a small pad of absorbent cotton which in turn was covered with gauze. A circular piece of adhesive tape with a hole in the center was used to hold the dressing in place. Through the hole in the adhesive tape the dressings were saturated twice daily with (1) broth (Rabbit No. 356) (2) bacteriophage propagated upon the homologous non-invasive strain of staphylococci (Rabbit No. 358), (3) bacteriophage propagated upon a highly invasive strain (Rabbit No. 357) and (4) autolysate of the invasive strain prepared according to Duran-Reynals, 1 (Rabbit No. 359). The fifth rabbit (No. 354) receiving the injection of the culture served as control, and was left without any dressings.
The dressings were removed once every day and the size of the lesions measured in each case as follows: The outline of the entire area involved in the reaction at each site of infection was traced with India ink on a strip of cellophane laid over the lesion, and subsequently measured with a planimeter. The area of the individual lesions in each rabbit was remarkably constant.
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