Human Blood Group Substance B and Escherichia coli 086

Abstract

The presence of blood group B activity in E. coli 086 led to a study of the bactericidal effect of anti-B against the organism. Normal sera of individuals of blood groups A or O, which contain anti-B, were comparable in activity to the sera of other groups. The sera of mothers'' of group O who gave birth to group B babies, however, were significantly greater in bactericidal antibody titer than other maternal sera. Thus, although the B reactive grouping of E. coli 086 is a susceptible target for bactericidal action, other experiments indicated that it is relatively insignificant in the bactericidal action of an anti-serum against E. coli 086.