Abstract
THIS was the title of the presidential address delivered by Lieut.-Colonel H. E. Shortt to the Section of Medical and Veterinary Research of the twenty-third Indian Science Congress, Indore (Jan. 2-8). After a brief survey of the subject of immunity in general in infective diseases, Colonel Shortt proceeded to discuss the mechanisms that may exist for the production of immunity in the protozoal diseases trypanosomiasis, malaria, leishmaniasis and piroplasmosis, and concluded that they are very similar to, if not identical with, those which are operative in immunity against bacterial diseases. In the case of malaria, it might be thought that no immunity develops, for individuals may suffer not only from numerous relapses during the course of an attack, but also may be repeatedly re-infected. In the case of natives dwelling in a malarious district, however, it would appear that the community does acquire a relative immunity after about twelve years exposure to infection. One of the factors limiting immunity in protozoal diseases is the development of strains of the parasite immunologically different and distinct from the original infecting strain, and a relapse or a re-infection may be caused by a strain immunologically different from the original one. Thus, it has been shown with the trypanosomes that a mouse, incompletely cured of its infection twenty times, produced seventeen immunologically different relapse strains. A full and useful bibliography is appended to the address.
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Immunity in Protozoal Disease. Nature 137, 268 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137268b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137268b0