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Studies on the Relationship of Sex Hormones to Infection

III. A Quantitative Study of the Increased Resistance to Vaccinial Infection Produced by the Estrogenic Hormone and Pseudopregnancy

From the Department of Pathology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina

Abstract

In a recent publication (1), we reported that the estrogenic hormone, when injected into castrate rabbits, decreased the spread of India ink and increased the resistance of the rabbit to infection with vaccinia. In another paper, pseudopregnancy was shown to decrease the spread of India ink (2). In these papers, we cited a number of other workers who had shown that related endocrine states caused a change in the resistance of the host to infection.

A further study of the relationship of the endocrine pattern of the host to infection was considered desirable. The value of such a study would be greatly enhanced, furthermore, if the resistance of the host could be determined on a quantitative basis. The only report of a quantitative study which we found was the paper by Rosahn, Hu and Pearce (3). These workers showed by the statistical analysis of data derived from a large number of rabbits that pregnancy increases the resistance of rabbits to infection.