SEROLOGICAL REACTIONS IN PNEUMONIA WITH A NON-PROTEIN SOMATIC FRACTION OF PNEUMOCOCCUS

1. Sera from individuals acutely ill with lobar pneumonia possess the capacity to precipitate in high titre a non-protein somatic fraction derived from pneumococci (Fraction C). Following crisis the reaction is no longer demonstrable. 2. Sera obtained from cases of pneumococcus pneumonia during illness and convalescence have been tested for antibodies specifically reactive with three chemically distinct constituents of Pneumococcus. The results, when correlated with the course of disease, demonstrate differences in the occurrence of each qualitatively distinct antibody. 3. The precipitation of pneumococcus Fraction C is not limited to the sera of individuals ill with pneumococcus infection. But in the few other cases available for comparative tests, definite reactions have been obtained only in streptococcus and staphylococcus infections and in acute rheumatic fever.