STUDIES ON TYPE-SPECIFIC STREPTOCOCCAL ANTIBODIES AS INDICATORS OF PREVIOUS STREPTOCOCCAL INFECTIONS IN RHEUMATIC AND NONRHEUMATIC CHILDREN*

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Abstract
Type-specific antibodies against 13 prevalent types of group A streptococci were determined by bactericidal tests on the sera of a group of patients with acute rheumatic fever and of a group of suitable control children. Type-specific antibodies against one or more types were demonstrated in 65% of patients with acute rheumatic fever and in 52% of control children. The rheumatic patients did not have antibodies against a greater number of types than the control children. Antibodies against more than one type occurred more commonly among the older children of both groups. No correlation could be demonstrated between the magnitude of the antistreptolysin O titer and the type-specific antibody pattern in patients with acute rheumatic fever. Since the presence of type-specific antibody is evidence of a past infection with an homologous type, the data obtained suggest that the rheumatic host has not had more frequent streptococcal infections prior to the first attack than the nonrheumatic individual.