Studies on the functional activity of the adrenal cortex in some infectious diseases.

Diaz-Rubio (1946) observed that systemic infections caused a condition of relative corticoid activity. Penner and Bernheim (1942) noted adrenal insufficiency in patients suffering from bacillary dysentery. Beneficial effects of the administration of corticoids in the treatment of acute infections, such as malaria (Bahtiyar, 1947), pneumonia (Perla et al., 1940), meningococcemia (Harrel, 1947), typhoid fever (Turner et al., 1949) and diphtheria (Grenet et al., 1943) have been reported. Langccker et al., (1933) observed that resistance of animals to streptococcal and spotted-lever infections could be raised by the administration of adrenalcortical extracts, Enlargement of the adrenal cortex with hyperemia, loss of sudanophilic granules and sometimes necrosis and haemorrhage were observed in cases of yellow fever (Magarinos-Torres et al., 1928), spotted fever (Wajnapel, 1947), measles (Macciotta, 1931), scarlet fever (Bazgan et al., 1932), generalized purulent peritonitis (Katsuragi, 1936), typhoid fever (Martinez et al., 1948) and a variety of other infections in man (Pinchot et al, 1949). Clinical studies regarding adrcno-cortical activity in diseased conditions reported so far arc not sufficient to evaluate the derangements of adrenals under these conditions. It was, therefore, thought desirable to study the adrcno-cortical activity in patients suffering from various common infectious diseases with a view to use rationally adrenocortical extracts in the treatment of these diseases. After the injection of ACTH, epincphrine and 11-oxysteroids there is a profound fall in the circulating cosinophils (Thorn et al., 1947). This led to the development of a 4-hour eosinopenic response test to parenteral epinephrine to