INTRAVENOUS INJECTIONS OF FOREIGN PROTEIN IN INFLUENZAL PNEUMONIA

This report deals with the results from the intravenous injection of a foreign protein in eleven cases of influenzal pneumonia. Nine of the patients were critically ill and presented a grave prognosis. The protein used consisted of typhoid bacilli, macerated and exposed to the soluble action of alcohol for twelve hours, washed free of alcohol and suspended in physiologic sodium chlorid solution, the concentration being the equivalent of approximately three million bacilli per cubic centimeter. The dose employed was sufficient to produce a definite, so-called protein reaction, as a rule 1 c.c. Leukocyte counts were made previous to the injections, and from four to twelve hours following the reaction. In several cases blood chemistry determinations were made before and after the injections.

From thirty to forty-five minutes after the injections the patients experienced a typical protein reaction, characterized by a severe chill and moderate cyanosis, lasting from fifteen to twenty