Study on Antibodies Against Enteric Pathogens in Human Gamma Globulin

Abstract

A study of anti-bodies against a variety of enteric pathogens, including salmonella, shigellae, and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in human gamma globulin revealed the following findings: The hemagglutination test made possible the detection of complete antibodies against these pathogens in titers exceeding those obtained by the conventional bacterial agglutination method. Incomplete antibodies were demonstrated by the antiglobulin hemagglutination and enzyme hemagglutination procedure, and the titers were up to 16-fold higher than those obtained by the hemagglutination method. No striking differences in the titers of these antibodies were found in gamma globulin preparations obtained from the USA, Japan, India, England, and Australia, except that complete antibodies against Salmonella paratyphosa A and S. dysenteriae Type 1 were found in preparations from India but not from the USA and Japan. Absorption tests substantiated the specificity of the hemagglutination method. Subfractions (II 1, 2 and II 3) of human gamma globulin contain both complete and incomplete enterobacterial antibodies.