EXPERIMENTAL PNEUMONIA IN GUINEA PIGS : II. EFFECT OF ANTI-AUTOLYSATE SERA ON PNEUMOCOCCUS PNEUMONIA IN GUINEA PIGS

1. Anti-pneumotoxic sera prepared in rabbits or horses by immunization with sterile filtrates of the pneumotoxin, under certain conditions protect against the pneumonia caused by the intratracheal injections of mixtures of living pneumococci and toxic autolysates. 2. The protection against the development of pneumonia is heterologous, at least as regards Type I, Type II, viz.: an anti-autolysate serum prepared by the immunization with a pneumotoxin from one type of pneumococcus will prevent the development of pneumonia caused by the injection of pneumococci and autolysate from another type. 3. Certain anti-pneumococcus horse sera used in the treatment of pneumonia in man, either contain no heterologous pneumonia-preventing antibodies or slight amounts only. These sera, however, protect against the pneumonia produced by injections of pneumococci and pneumotoxin of the homologous strain, the degree of protection depending on the amount of specific protective substances such sera contain. 4. Anti-pneumotoxic sera produced in rabbits or horses by the injection of sterile Berkefeld filtrates of the toxic autolysates contain no pneumococcus specific protective substances.