Phenomenon of Local Tissue Reactivity.

Abstract

This book is a scholarly presentation of the Shwartzman phenomenon; its nature and its significance in various fields are discussed. Dr. Shwartzman assumed that some micro-organisms for which no true exctoxins had been demonstrated might produce injuries in animal tissue through a mechanism different from that of true toxins. He found that certain bacterial filtrates, e. g. those of Bacillus typhosus, meningococcus and other organisms, produce no appreciable local reaction on being intradermally injected into rabbits, but that if this preparatory local injection is followed within a period of from eight to thirty-two hours by an intravenous injection of the same filtrate (or even of other reacting filtrates) there appears within a few hours a severe local necrosis at the site of the intradermal injection. Dr. Shwartzman presents many experiments, performed by himself and by others. He indicates the nature of the preparatory and reacting substances, discusses the phenomenon of