STUDIES ON PRIMARY ATYPICAL PNEUMONIA. II. OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE RELATIONSHIP OF A NON-HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCUS TO THE DISEASE 12

Abstract

In a preliminary communication from this laboratory (1), the isolation of a non-hemolytic streptococcus from the lungs of 2 fatal cases of primary atypical pneumonia was reported. It was shown that convalescent sera of numerous patients with primary atypical pneumonia were capable of agglutinating this microorganism and some sera yielded precipitates with appropriate extracts of it. It was also shown that, except in rare instances, similar reactions were not demonstrable with acute-phase sera from the same patients, sera from patients with other acute infectious diseases, or sera from normal individuals.