ANTIBODY PRODUCTION IN RHEUMATIC DISEASES. THE EFFECT OF BRUCELLA ANTIGEN*

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Abstract
Forty-one patients with various rheumatic diseases and 27 control patients were inoculated with Brucella vaccine. As a group the patients exhibited a significantly greater rise in antibrucella agglutinins compared with the controls. Some overlap in both groups was present. Alterations were noted in other antibody systems[long dash]anti-red cell (Coombs), anti-thy roglobulin, and possibly in the influenza antibody and rheumatoid factor [long dash]after this primary stimulation in some of the patients with rheumatic diseases, but no titers for these antibodies were noted in the control patients. The effect of Brucella antigen in these patients may be related to the damage that this organism can produce on mesenchymal tissue.