Humoral and Cellular Response of Pheasants Vaccinated against Newcastle Disease and Haemorrhagic Enteritis

The purpose of the experiment was to define whether and to what extent can prophylactic vaccinations against Newcastle disease (ND) and haemorrhagic enteritis (HE) affect the humoral and cellular response in pheasants. The evaluation of humoral response was performed on a basis of agglutinin titre after administered antigen and the cellular immunity index was the delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction. The pheasants were prophylactically vaccinated against Newcastle Disease (ND) on the 1st, 28th and 56th day of life. Moreover, on the 49th day of life, part of the birds was given in the drinking water a vaccine containing the HEV (Haemorrhagic Enteritis Virus). Fourteen days after the HEV vaccination, the birds were intravenously given 0.5 ml of the 10% SRBC (sheep red blood cells) suspension. Simultaneously with the SRBC administration the delayed hypersensitivity test was performed by intradermal administration of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA). It was shown that in pheasants vaccinated with NDV and additionally with HEV, the specific agglutinin anti-SRBC titre was significantly (p < 0.05) lower than in birds vaccinated against ND only. It also appeared that, the antibodies resistant to 2-mercaptoethanol were 43% of the total pool of specific anti-SRBC antibodies in the NDV vaccinated birds, whereas in birds vaccinated also with HEV they were 75%. No significant differences were found in the DTH test. Only in the HEV vaccinated pheasants the tendency to increase the wing index value was noted. The results confirm the observations concerning immunosuppressive effects of simultaneous vaccinations. They also indicate that overloading the pheasants with many antigens (ND and HEV vaccination) may weaken the humoral response to administered SRBC.

Effect of prolactin on the diurnal changes in immune parameters and plasma corticosterone in white leghorn chickens

The effect of PRL on the diurnal changes in peripheral lymphocyte and granulocyte number, antisheep red blood cells, and natural anti-rabbit red blood cells serum agglutinins titre as well as plasma corticosterone concentration was examined in White Leghorn cockerels, immunized twice with sheep red blood cells. PRL was administered for six consecutive days at 4 or 8 h after light onset. Control birds were treated at the same times with hormone solvent alone. Immunized non-treated birds served as an additional control group. PRL injections influenced markedly the diurnal changes in all parameters examined. The effect of PRL administration on the diurnal changes in lymphocyte and granulocyte number and natural anti-rabbit red blood cells serum agglutinins consisted in elimination of the influence of solvent injections. In those cases where the solvent injections did not alter the pattern of the diurnal changes, i.e. in anti-sheep red blood cells serum agglutinins and in plasma corticosterone concentration, the pattern was modified by PRL injections. PRL administration affected also the correlations between the diurnal changes in plasma corticosterone concentration and those in lymphocyte number and anti-sheep red blood cells agglutinin titre. This suggests that the role of PRL in the regulation of the diurnal variations of immunity in chickens may be realized either directly, via its receptors in immune system or by its influence on plasma corticosterone concentration.

Salmonella dublin abortion in cattle: I. Observations on the serum agglutination test

SUMMARYThe somatic and flagellar serum agglutinin titre were determined in paired samples obtained from seventy-seven cases of bovine abortion associated with Salmonella dublin infection. The cases could be divided into four serological groups with an active infection being demonstrated in most cases. The serum agglutination test was shown to be a relatively specific diagnostic test but was of more limited value in the retrospective identification of convalescent cases.

Chlorambucil Treatment of Patients With Cold Agglutinin Syndrome

Four patients aged 62 to 78 years with the cold agglutinin syndrome have been treated intermittently or continuously with chlorambucil for one to seven years. This resulted in a decreased susceptibility to the cold so that Raynaud phenomena and hemoglobinuria were avoided in the winter. The hemoglobin value increased, the concentration of IgM-globulin in serum was nearly normalized, and the cold agglutinin titre decreased by a factor 3-30. The thermal amplitude was lowered by 2.2-7.2°C.

SIGNIFICANCE OF WIDAL TEST IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF TYPHOID FEVER

Objective: The aim of our study was to determine the role of Widal test with appropriate titters in diagnosisof Enteric fever in an endemic area of District Swat.Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in Saidu Teaching Hospital, Saidu Sharif betweenOctober 2010 and April 2012. Patients more than 15 years old and more than seven days of fever wereincluded in this study.Widal test was also done on 200 normal individuals, 197 non-typhoidal fevers and 175bacteriologically proven cases of typhoid.Results: Of 200 normal individuals, 2% had an H agglutinin titre of 1/160 and 5% had an O agglutinin titreof 1/160. H and/or 0 agglutinin titre of 1/320 or more was observed in 93-97% of typhoid cases and in only3% of patients with non-typhoidal fever. Of the sera from typhoid cases which gave a significant Widalreaction, the majority (79.9%) showed increases in both H and 0 agglutinins and 51 of 234 (21.8%) of thesesera were collected in the first week of illness.Conclusion : Based on these data it is evident that an H and/or 0 agglutinin titre of: 1/320 or more should beconsidered significant and indicative of typhoid fever.Key words; Widal test, Gram negative bacterium, agglutinin titres

The distribution of antibody activity in hedgehog serum

The distribution of antibody activity in the protein fractions of immune hedgehog serum was studied. Following a single immunizing injection of Brucella abortus suspension about 80% of the immunological activity is located in the β -globulin fraction, and the remainder in the γ -globulin. With prolonged immunization there is no appreciable increase in the serum agglutinin titre, and the antibody activity is still predominantly in the β -globulin fraction (62%) and the remainder in the γ -globulin. Following a single injection of Salmonella pullorum the antibody activity is fairly evenly spread between the β - and γ -globulins, but with prolonged immunization the serum titre is greatly increased and about 80% of the activity of these high titre sera is located in the γ -globulin component. The significance of the distribution of antibody activity in the sera is discussed in relation to the postnatal transmission of passive immunity in this species.

The Histamine-Sensitizing Property ofHaemophilus Pertussis

Summary and ConclusionsMice and rats which are normally resistant to histamine become more susceptible to its lethal action after an injection ofH. pertussis. This so-called sensitization to histamine is not an anaphylactic phenomenon. It is due to the action of a component ofH. pertussis, the histamine-sensitizing factor (HSF), which in some unknown way overcomes the physiological mechanism in rats and mice that makes them more resistant than other species to histamine. Guinea-pigs which appear not to possess this mechanism and are about 200-fold more susceptible, weight for weight, than rats and mice, were not made more sensitive byH. pertussis.After a stated dose of vaccine, sensitization was detectable in 48 hr., reached a maximum in 3–4 days, remained at this level for about 2 weeks and gradually disappeared. The effects of dosage, route of injection, and weight and sex of mice have been examined.The HSF was found in strains ofH. pertussis; it was not found inH. parapertussis, H. bronchisepticusorH. influenzae. It was only slightly affected by heating at 70° C. for 1 hr. but was destroyed at 80° C. in ½ hr. It was destroyed when bacteria were disintegrated by shaking with glass beads, or by grinding after being freeze-dried. It was found in the supernatant fluid of a partially autolysed vaccine.HSF was antigenic. Antisera were prepared in rabbits. Anti-HSF combined with HSF and neutralized its histamine-sensitizing activity. Bacteria treated with antiserumin vitroabsorbed anti-HSF and did not thereafter sensitize mice.Antiserum protected mice passively against the sensitizing action of vaccine, presumably by combining with HSF. After sensitization had developed the sensitive state was not affected by antiserum.Although HSF is an antigen there was no indication that histamine-sensitization was due to its antigenicity.The HSF was differentiated from heat-labile and heat-stable toxin, haemagglutinin, capsular material and agglutinogen.The preparation V 17, which is a small fraction of the disintegrated bacteria, adsorbed on red cell stromata (Pillemeret al.1954) had a high histamine-sensitizing value. Compared with whole bacterial vaccine it caused little production of agglutinin in mice; in rabbits it caused a slower and smaller production of agglutinin and a faster and greater production of anti-HSF. For this reason immune rabbit sera may have a high agglutinin titre and a low anti-HSF value or vice versa. Anti-HSF rabbit serum protected mice against sensitization by V 17.Vaccines could be graded according to their histamine-sensitizing activity. This did not always correspond to their grading by agglutinin production in mice. The relation of HSF to the immunizing antigen ofH. pertussisand the use of histamine-sensitization to indicate the immunizing potency of pertussis vaccines are discussed.We wish to thank Glaxo Laboratories Ltd. for the supply of reference vaccine, and the Whooping Cough Immunization Committee of the Medical Research Council for vaccines and sera.

The anti-globulin technique applied to the detection of non-agglutinating antibody against salmonella typhi O in human sera

A technique for carrying out the anti-globulin test with Salm. typhi O suspension in described; this technique has been used to examine a number of human sera. The degree of amplification of agglutinin titre and the final titres obtained were appreciably greater in the sera of individuals with a history of Salm. typhi infection, some of whom were carriers, than in the sera of normal individuals.

THE A AND B FACTORS AS A POSSIBLE CAUSE OF ERYTHROBLASTOSIS

The author establishes that there is no reason to think that the isoimmunization must be limited to the Rh factor, especially in pregnancy cases, because such a condition brings the ideal means for its presence. A brief historical review is presented, establishing some evidence for the antigenic capacity of the A and B blood factors, such as the experimental production of serum in animals, the increase of agglutinin titre following an incompatible transfusion or intramuscular blood injection and heterospecific pregnancies. Some fetal antigens are analyzed, as well as the possible pathogenic process of sensitization. Some factors of the antigen-antibody conflict in the fetal organism are studied. The pregnancies are also analyzed from the viewpoint of the fetal maternal incompatibility explaining the low frequency of the observed cases, due to nonpermeable placentas, the anergy of the mother, and the fetal characteristic of being secretor or nonsecretor, considering that the clinical form of the fetal alteration depends upon the presence or absence of A and B substances in fetal tissues. The writer gives as a basis to consider a true isoimmunization the presence in the blood stream of erythroblasts with nuclear alterations, and a positive "developing test." A clinical case of twins in which the sick twin was of incompatible blood type in respect to the mother is presented.