Allergy in Tuberculosis

¹ Columbus, Ohio

When contact with a foreign protein (pollen, vegetable, animal or bacterial) that has penetrated the tissues is established, the first, ordinary or normergic response of the body varies from a mild reaction to a severe inflammation, depending upon the inherent toxicity of the agent and upon the quantity. After an incubation period the body is then sensitized to the foreign substance, and upon repeated exposure to it, the inflammatory response differs from the original reaction in that the onset in acute, the course more violent, and the resolution of the process slower. Hyperergic reactions of this sort, analogous in many respects to conditioned reflexes, occur not only in the clinical allergies but also in other forms of anaphylaxis, in idiosyncrasy, and in immunity. von Pirquet in discussing the phenomena which he had included under "allergy," said as follows: "We rightly use the word `allergy' from ergia, reaction and allos, altered, to mean a changed reactivity as a clinical conception without being prejudiced by the bacteriological, pathological or biological findings.

For purposes of clarity it appears that altered reactivity in humans in relation to the tubercle bacillus and its products may be divided into three stages as follows: Stages of tuberculosis (in terms of altered reactivity to the tubercle bacillus and its products): 1. Normergic (neutral); 2. hyperergic (hypersensitivity): (a) mild, (b) marked; 3. immunity: (a) negative, (b) positive.