Active and Passive Immunity to Pneumococcus Infection Induced in Rabbits by Immunization with R Pneumococci

1. Rabbits, vaccinated by repeated intravenous injections of suspensions of heat-killed R pneumococci, acquire a marked degree of active immunity to infection with the virulent S forms of Pneumococcus Types I and II. Previously (1) it was shown that the immunization of rabbits with R cells induces active resistance to Type III infection. This immunity is effective when the infecting organisms are injected either intravenously, intraperitoneally, or intradermally. 2. Whole citrated blood or serum of rabbits immunized with R pneumococci, under the experimental conditions described, is capable of passively protecting normal rabbits against Type I and Type III infection. Whole blood appears to be more effective than an equivalent amount of serum. 3. Passive protection of mice by the use of whole blood or serum of the immune rabbits has been entirely ineffectual. This is in striking contrast to the results obtained with type-specific immune serum. 4. This form of acquired resistance to pneumococcus infection, elicited by R organisms which are devoid of type specificity, and exemplified in animals whose sera possess no demonstrable type-specific antibodies, has many characteristics strongly suggesting that the underlying mechanism differs from that concerned in type-specific immunity.