Busy Antibodies

Rheumatic fever seems to follow a streptococcus infection of the nose and upper throat. Doctors have long been aware of this fact without knowing why. Last week, Dr. Charles H. Rammelkamp announced in Cheyenne that he and a team of researchers had found out. They may thus have found out how to prevent most rheumatic fever cases.

Dr. Rammelkamp's team began this discovery while working at Fort Francis E. Warren, Wyo., where many cases of rheumatic fever had developed. The researchers started with the fact that about three weeks after the beginning of a strep infection, the victim develops antibodies in his system as the streptococci are disposed of.

Says Dr. Rammelkamp: "Since rheumatic fever attacks about 3% of strep patients at this same time, we figured that these antibodies were the culprits. So if we could cure the strep infection before the three weeks were up, the patient's body would be relieved of the necessity for producing these antibodies, thus thwarting the development of rheumatic fever."

It worked. When penicillin killed off the streptococci early, rheumatic fever was prevented in almost every case. Dr. Rammelkamp's conclusion: "Since roughly 60% of all strep throats are severe enough to make the patient seek a physician's advice, it is now possible to prevent 60% of rheumatic fever cases."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.