The influence of upper respiratory infections on bronchial asthma has long been the object of discussion, but due to its complexity little is known about the mechanism of the effect. A study on the relationship of 6 kinds of upper respiratory bacteria, i. e, alpha-, beta- and gamma-hemolytic streptococci, Staphylococcus aureus, neisseria and hemophilus, to bronchial asthma was conducted and the summary of these results if given in this paper. 1) In evaluation of the intracutaneous skin test with the heat-killed vaccine of these 6 bacterial strains, a positive reaction is an induration of over 9 mm by the immediate test. 2) A higher positive rate was seen in asthmatics than in chronic bronchitis patients or in healthy subjects. 3) About 40% of the asthmatics showed a positive reaction to 2 or more of the bacterial vaccines. In a comparison of bacterial vaccine and house-dust extract skin tests, there were many positive reactors in the atopic type of bronchial asthma to house -dust extracts and in the infectious type to bacterial vaccines. The mixed cases showed positive reactors to both allergens. 4) In the intracutaneous skin reaction, no clear relationship was seen to age, years after onset, type of asthma (seasonal or perennial) and seasonal occurrence. 5) The relationship of the intracutaneous skin test to the bacteria isolaged from throat swabs or sputum obtained simultaneously varied according to the bacterial species, thus infering the difficulty in examination of past upper respiratory infections and isolation of bacteria.
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