Abstract
Conclusion
Streptococcus hemolyticus whole-culture is capable of inhibiting the inflammatory fixation which is normally elicited by aleuronat in the skin of the rabbit.
It has been clearly demonstrated that the dissemination of streptococci, staphylococci, and Pseudomonas aeruginosus from an inflammatory focus in the skin to the regional lymphnodes and thence to the blood stream is largely governed by the efficiency of the fibrinous barrier which is responsible for what Menkin has termed “inflammatory fixation”. 1 , 2 , 3 It appears to be quite clear that the necrotizing property of Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for the characteristic localized nature of staphylococcal infections, by eliciting a prompt and intense inflammatory response. 3 Menkin 4 , 5 has suggested and maintained that Streptococcus hemolyticus paradoxically owes its characteristic invasiveness to a lack of irritating properties and consequent delay in eliciting an inflammatory response. The experimental data given by Dennis and Berberian 1 and the clearly defined results given above indicate that one need not resort to a paradoxical interpretation of the observed phenomena. If Streptococcus hemolyticus is capable of inhibiting the formation of an inflammatory barrier in the presence of an irritating-substance such as aleuronat, it seems not unreasonable to suppose that this ability to interfere with the normal inflammatory response may play an important rôle in the dissemination of streptococci from a portal of entry under natural conditions.
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