A study of the relationship between the fever caused by bacterial pyrogens and the fever accompanying acute infections

Abstract

The relationship between the fever of acute infection and that following injection of bacterial pyrogen was studied by administering pyrogens to animals convalescent from acute infections. Rabbits surviving dermal pneumococcal infections or peritonitis due to Escherichia coli were given intravenous injections of typhoid or E. coli vaccine. They showed no evidence of tolerance to the fever-promoting effect of these pyrogenic materials. Tolerance did develop in infected animals given daily pyrogen injections during the course of the infection. Certain previous observations upon the ability of rabbits to develop tolerance to pyrogens, the broad nature of the tolerance, and its duration were confirmed. It is concluded that the pyrogen produced by certain bacteria plays little or no rôle in the production of the fever of infection. These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that there is a common factor, perhaps a product of cell injury, underlying the fever accompanying diseases of various types.