The Antitoxin Response of Schick-Negative Rheumatic and Non-Rheumatic Subjects to Diphtheria Toxoid

Nineteen Schick-negative children with rheumatic fever and 18 Schick-negative non-rheumatic children were given a booster dose of diphtheria toxoid subcutaneously. There were marked individual differences in antibody response but no significant differences between the group of rheumatics and the group of non-rheumatics. Diphtheria antitoxin precipitated in the toxin-antitoxin complex was much less than the amount actually present as measured in vivo in the rabbit. There appeared to be no definite evidence for the production of non-precipitating, skin-sensitizing antibodies by either rheumatics or non-rheumatics. The findings of this experiment furnish further evidence that Schick-negative individuals with rheumatic fever in either the active or inactive phase do not respond differently to diphtheria toxoid than do non-rheumatic individuals.