Abstract
Conclusions
Alcoholic intoxication maintained at the point of stupor destroys resistance to pneumococcal infection in the rabbit. Even in animals rendered highly immune by the intravenous injection of antipneumococcal serum, intoxication deprives them of their immunity. The loss of resistance to the infection is due to the fact that intoxication profoundly inhibits the vascular inflammatory response as long as intoxication is maintained. Leucocytic emigration at the site of infection is negligible and the bacteria, therefore, proliferate uninterruptedly. Similar experiments show that etheranesthesia has as marked an inhibitory effect on the inflammatory response as has alcoholic intoxication, and produces as marked a loss of resistance to infection.
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