The Effects of Cortisone and Acth on Toxins of Rickettsiae and Salmonella Typhosa

Abstract

Abstract A number of the bacterial, rickettsial and viral diseases of man are characterized by severe toxemia. Furthermore, toxins capable of producing obvious lesions in animals, or their death, are obtained from many of the pathogenic microbial agents (1, 2). Recent reports have indicated that increased amounts of adrenal cortical hormones have beneficial effects on the clinical course of several infectious diseases (3–6). Moreover, Lewis and Page (7) have observed that adrenalectomized rats are more resistant to the shocking action of typhoid toxin if they are under treatment with cortisone. With these points in mind, we undertook an investigation of the possible antitoxic action of cortisone and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) in mice inoculated with lethal amounts of the toxins of rickettsiae of epidemic typhus and of scrub typhus. Subsequently, experiments of a similar nature were conducted with mice inoculated with the toxin of Salmonella typhosa.