Abstract
In the previous paper, a report was made on the effect of the treatment with antigène méthylique in tuberculous animals. In the recent experiment, the antigène méthylique used a mixture prepared from human tubercle bacilli (Aoyama B) and bovine tubercle bacilli or the antigène méthylique prepared from human tubercle bacilli (H37Rv). The infecting dose was 0.02mg (viable units 20×105) of human tubercle bacilli (H37Rv).
Forty-five healthy guinea pigs were inoculated subcutaneously with 0.02mg of the strain H37Rv. These animals were divided in four groups, and treated as follows.
Group I; Five guinea pigs treated with streptomycin alone, 0.2mg once daily intramuscularly.
Group II; Fifteen guinea pigs treated with antigène méthylique alone, 0.25cc, subcutaneously twice weekly.
Group III; Twenty guinea pigs treated with both streptomycin and antigène méthylique with similar methods in group I and group II respectively.
Group IV; Five guinea pigs untreated as controls.
The treatment started from 8 days to four weeks after infection, and was continued for two months.
On each animal in group II, particularly those treated with antigène méthylique (mixing), the body weight at the end of the treatment increased significantly.
All the experimental animals were autopsied after the treatment and their tissues were studied grossly, bacteriologically, and histologically for evidence of tuberculous infection.
The guinea pigs treated with streptomycin and antigène méthylique developed significantly less tuberculosis than those treated with streptomycin or antigène méthylique alone.
