Antigenicity of Gas Gangrene Toxoids in Guinea Pigs, Mice, and Human Beings

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Abstract
Summary: Cl. welchii and Cl. novyi toxoids have been assayed for antigenicity in mice, guinea pigs and human beings. It is felt that preliminary assay of these toxoids in guinea pigs shows a better correlation with the results in human beings than does the mouse assay. The antigenic response of guinea pigs to a single dose of alum-precipitated toxoid is a fair indication of the human response to two doses of the same toxoid. With divalent alum-precipitated toxoid containing 15 Lb of Cl. welchii toxoid and 60 L+ doses of Cl. novyi toxoid, detectable Cl. welchii antitoxin appeared in about 50 per cent and Cl. novyi antitoxin in about 75 per cent of the individuals given a primary course of two injections one month apart. Evidence is presented in the following paper (11) that a single booster dose given 5 to 6 months later will raise the proportion of individuals with detectable circulating antitoxins to at least 90 per cent. The antibody response to the booster dose of toxoid occurs between the seventh and ninth day after injection and reaches a peak by the fourteenth day. Local and systemic reactions to these toxoids have been for the most part mild, and typical of reactions observed routinely with alum-precipitated tetanal and diphtherial toxoids. Further work on methods for production of gas gangrene toxoids should greatly decrease the frequency and severity of such reactions.
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