PARTIALLY AUTOLYZED PNEUMOCOCCI IN THE TREATMENT OF LOBAR PNEUMONIA

The curative power of antipneumococcus serum in lobar pneumonia due to Type I pneumococcus appears to be established.1According to Cole,2of every 100 patients with lobar pneumonia admitted to hospitals, the infection in about thirty-five cases is due to Type I pneumococcus, ten dying if untreated. The remaining sixty-five cases are due to the other types of pneumococci, and in these, twenty deaths occur. Hence, about two thirds of the cases of lobar pneumonia, and two thirds of the deaths from the disease, are due to pneumococci, for which there is at present no specific serum treatment. It has been established that heat-killed virulent pneumococci stimulate the formation of antibodies3and tend to protect animals against pneumococcus infections. Active immunization with heat-killed pneumococci3and various derivatives of pneumococcus cultures4have been used in small series of cases of lobar pneumonia, in some instances with