ABSTRACT
Altogether 258 serum samples obtained from 102 patients with generalized meningococcal infection were studied by means of the immune bacteriolysis test and the indirect hemagglutination test. This study revealed a pronounced increase in the titer of bactericidal and hemagglutinating antibodies to group A meningococcus in the process of the disease. The dynamics and intensity of antibody formation, revealed by means of the two tests, were found to be in complete correspondence. Antibody formation was most intensive in meningitis accompanied by meningococcemia. In most cases these antibodies were found to belong to the class of IgM on account of their physico-chemical nature. The highest bactericidal activity was found in the sera with high hemagglutinin titers; the summary titers of these sera were 4-64 times higher than the titers of cystein-resistant antibodies.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Bacterial/biosynthesis , Meningococcal Infections/immunology , Bacteriolysis , Hemagglutination Tests , Humans , Immunoglobulin A/analysis , Immunoglobulin M/analysis , Meningitis, Meningococcal/immunology , Meningococcal Infections/prevention & control , Sepsis/immunology , VaccinationABSTRACT
Immune bacteriolysis test with meningococcus, group A, was used for the purpose of serum antibody study. Meningococcus cultures with a bright orange fluorescence of the colonies in oblique illumination (the I type) proved to possess the greatest lysability. Guinea pig serum sorbed with meningococcus suspension was found to be the best source of the complement. Sera obtained after 1 to 3 days of rabbit immunization, containing mostly IgM antibodies, had the greatest bactericidal capacity. Only those fractions which contained IgM possessed bactericidal activity in the hyperimmune rabbit sera with a high IgG antibody concentration. No lytic activity was displayed against meningococcus by unfractionated hyperimmune sera.
