Skin Reactions to Nucleoprotein of Streptococcus Scarlatinae in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Rheumatic Fever.

The skin reactions to various products of the hemolytic streptococci have been studied by a number of observers, and attempts have been made to correlate the results of such tests with various clinical manifestations of streptococcal infection. In the present investigation the skin reactions to varying amounts of nucleoprotein derived from a strain of Streptococcus scarlatinae were studied in 207 miscellaneous hospital patients, and in sixty patients with acute rheumatic fever and rheumatoid arthritis, in an endeavor to determine whether more patients in this latter group reacted to the streptococcal "nucleoprotein" or to smaller amounts of the material than patients with other diseases. At the same time the blood serum of these patients was examined for the presence of streptococcal agglutinins. METHODS