The full role of exotoxin in the pathogenesis of systemic staphylococcic infections has not yet been demonstrated.1 The symptoms of systemic infections in human beings due to toxigenic staphylococci differ from the symptoms of those due to nontoxigenic staphylococci,2 and this difference is sufficiently pronounced to make it possible to determine from clinical characteristics alone whether the symptoms are primarily due to the effect of staphylococcic exotoxin.2d Previous reports have described the clinical response of the rabbit3 and more specifically of the rabbit heart4 to the intravenous injection of exotoxin. With these clinical and experimental reports as a point of departure, the purpose of the present work is to extend these observations by comparing the clinical and electrocardiographic responses in rabbits receiving intravenous injections of staphylococcus exotoxin and toxinfree suspensions of living toxigenic or nontoxigenic staphylococci.
METHODS
Rabbits averaging 2,300 Gm. in weight were used.