Staphylococcal Antihemolysin in Osteomyelitis and Other Staphylococcal Infections

Abstract

Summary Normal sera possess a staphylococcal antihemolysin titer of about 1 International Unit or less. The titers of sera from our grow of staphylococcal infections, other than osteomyelitis, vary from 0.5 International Unit or less to 22.7 units, with the great majority falling into the normal range. Sera from 3 cases of superficial infections had titers of 0.5 unit. In contrast to other reported results, about two-thirds of the sera from cases of osteomyelitis had a titer of 1 International Unit or less. Only one-fifth of the sera had definitely high titers, and these, in our series, averaged 5.1 units; the highest was 17.7 units. From our results, it seems to be necessary to modify the conception that a high antihemolysin titer is characteristic of osteomyelitis.