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A Filtrable Toxic Substance in Brothcultures of B. Pertussis

Department of Bacteriology, School of Hygiene, Johns Hopkins University

Abstract

A bacteria-free filtrate of B. pertussis broth cultures is found to contain a toxic substance which kills mice when injected intraäbdominally or intravenously in small amounts, and produces a necrotic skin-lesion in rabbits when injected endermally. The toxic filtrate is apparently free of bacterial antigen, is thermolabile, and is inactivated by formalin. The toxin is produced only by smooth strains of B. pertussis and appears in broth cultures during the active stages of bacterial growth. It is not neutralized by anti-bacterial immune serum. Although possessing no demonstrable antigenic properties, the toxin injected intraäbdominally in sublethal doses protects mice against death from subsequent intraäbdominal injections of whole organisms. It is suggested that the protective action is due to chronic inflammatory lesions caused by the injection of the toxin, involving the peritoneum and particularly the spleen. The gross and microscopical pathology of these lesions is described, and the possible relation of the toxin to the lesions observed in experimental pertussal infections is discussed.