RECENT STUDIES ON EXPERIMENTAL LOBAR PNEUMONIA

Abstract

I. PATHOGENESIS Very little is known concerning the optimum conditions for the inception of lobar pneumonia in the human being. That some disturbance in pulmonary function precedes the onset of this disease in the majority of cases seems probable in view of the frequency of antecedent acute infection of the upper part of the respiratory tract, but the manner in which such infection lowers the resistance of the lung to invasion by pneumococci can only by conjectured. Furthermore, in a considerable number of instances lobar pneumonia occurs during a period of apparent good health. An experimental approach to this problem has been carried on in several ways. My associates and I sought to determine first whether or not variations in individual resistance to the different types and strains of pneumococci might be related to the inception of infection. An earlier study of the pneumococcus-killing activity of the blood of various