Studies on Immunization Against Plague

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Abstract
Summary: A study of the diffusible antigens of P. pestis was undertaken, adapting a technique of double diffusion in gels first developed by Elek and by Ouchterlony. By testing combinations of P. pestis strains and fractions and P. pseudotuberculosis strains against anti-P. pestis gamma globulin, two antigen-antibody precipitation reactions common to both organisms were demonstrated, and the P. pestis-specific Fraction I and Fraction II (toxin) reaction zones were identified. The study confirmed previous laboratory findings that the avirulent but antigenic A1122 strain possesses a moderate amount of Fraction I, and the avirulent, nonantigenic 14 and TRU strains possess almost no Fraction I, and that strain 14 is toxic and strain TRU is essentially atoxic. There was no indication of an antigen-antibody reaction specific for virulent P. pestis strains. The method of double diffusion in gels appears to be a highly precise one for qualitative analysis of antigens and may be found useful for comparative studies of heterologous but closely related species and for studying the factors related to cross immunity.

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