IMMUNOLOGIC AND BIOCHEMICAL STUDIES IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO RHEUMATIC FEVER

Abstract

Electrophoretic analyses are presented for 79 specimens of blood plasma or serum from 42 rheumatic subjects during apparent health, following respiratory illness, and during rheumatic fever.

Electrophoretic studies revealed a prolonged elevation in the gamma component for a period varying from weeks to months following an antecedent respiratory illness with or without the development of rheumatic fever.

During acute rheumatic fever, the gamma globulin component was normal in the absence of antecedent illness. Elevation of the gamma globulin component in rheumatic fever is not a function of the rheumatic process. The alpha globulin components were usually elevated during febrile periods.

No evidence was obtained in these studies that the immune response of rheumatic subjects to infections presumably streptococcal in origin differed from that of nonrheumatic individuals.