Cevitamic Acid Excretion in Pneumonias and Some Other Pathological Conditions

Abstract

Previous studies by Harde, and Harde and Philippe, Harde and Benjamin, Harde and Greenwald, have shown a lowering of vitamin C content of the tissues of laboratory animals in many infections and intoxications. King and his associates noted a similar fact in studies of human autopsies, and later in work on guinea pigs. These observations suggested to us that vitamin C in infectious diseases unrelated to scurvy, such as pneumonia, may be lowered. The examinations of urines for vitamin C from pneumonia and other pathological conditions permitted verification of this hypothesis. A reducing substance in the urine of normal individuals, probably in large part cevitamic acid, has been studied by Hess and Benjamin and by Birch, Harris and Ray. The latter authors found a relation between vitamin C content of the diet and the urinary excretion of the reducing substance.