According to a number of investigators schizophrenia is a disorder of adaptation on a biochemical level. Since immunogenesis is a basic biologic adaptive mechanism it is not surprising that many efforts have been made to examine linkages or parallelisms between schizophrenia and immune processes.
In past years the relatively high susceptibility to tuberculosis among hospitalized schizophrenics was well recognized. Kallman1,2 has demonstrated a genetic relationship in this predisposition. On the other hand, one of us (E. F.) has been impressed for some time with the relative infrequency of severe respiratory infections, streptococcal tonsillitis, or infectious diarrhea in Manhattan State Hospital. Annual reports of the Department of Mental Hygiene of New York State likewise indicate low morbidity rates for a number of communicable diseases among hospitalized patients, while a recent observation from England also points to the relative freedom of schizophrenics from colds,