[Anticardiac antibodies, cross reacting with the membranes of streptococcus, in protracted rheumatic fever].

The anti-cardiac antibodies cross-reacting with the Streptococcal membranes were studied by the method of Zabriskie and co-authors in 162 patients with rheumatism in its active phase and in 181 control individuals. The anti-cardiac antibodies were found in over half of the rheumatic patients and far less frequently in the controls. At the same time in the majority of cases only those anti-cardiac antibodies that were found in the rheumatics possessed distinct cross-activity towards the A-streptococcal membranes. Most consistently were they found in those with a protracted course of the disease.