The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 60, 119-125,
Copyright, 1934, by The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research New York
THE ANTIGENIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROTEUS X-19 AND TYPHUS RICKETTSIA
:
II. A STUDY OF THE COMMON ANTIGENIC FACTOR
M. Ruiz Castaneda M.D.1
1 From the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, The Harvard Medical School, Boston
A soluble specific substance was isolated from Mexican typhus Rickettsia which gave, with Proteus X-19 antiserum and typhus human serum, the same precipitation reactions as the polysaccharides extracted from B. proteus OX-19.
The soluble specific substance extracted from Rickettsia and Proteus OX-19 is likely to be of a polysaccharide nature owing to the strong Molisch reactions obtained with such extracts, the heat stability and the negative protein reactions (biuret). Since, however, it still contains 7 per cent nitrogen, this is not certain. In the antigenic composition of both Proteus X-19 and typhus Rickettsia there is a common soluble specific factor which is responsible for the Weil-Felix reaction.
Submitted on April 17, 1934