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The Effect of Alcoholic Intoxication Upon Acquired Resistance to Pneumococcal Infection in Rabbits

Department of Pathology, University of Chicago

Abstract

The effects of alcoholic intoxication upon immunological processes have been investigated since Koch (1), in 1884, observed higher fatality-rates during cholera-epidemics among excessive users of alcohol, and concluded, therefore, that alcoholic intoxication depresses the immune mechanisms in man. Although an extensive literature on this subject has developed since then, no attempt to review it will be made in this paper, as this has been well done recently (2).

The present study of the effect of alcoholic intoxication in the rabbit upon acquired resistance to pneumococcal infection was undertaken in an effort to determine (1) in what ways alcoholic intoxication might influence the mechanisms of active immunity, and (2) to what extent large amounts of antibody might tend to counteract the loss of resistance caused by alcohol. Previous investigations have neglected this phase of the problem and hence have failed to supply important information necessary for the adequate treatment of infections in alcoholic patients.