[Cross-reacting intraspecies antigens of Neisseria meningitidis. II. The dynamics of antimeningococcal antibodies to cross-reacting antigens in different forms of meningococcal infection].

The presence of antibodies to meningococci has been determined in the sera of 203 patients with meningococcal infection and 234 healthy persons by means of the indirect hemagglutination tests with the use of polyvalent erythrocyte diagnosticum. The tests have shown that antibodies to cross-reacting antigens can be detected both in patients with generalized forms of meningococcal infection and in healthy persons; the level and occurrence of these antibodies depend on the age of the subjects under examination and the form taken by the course of meningococcal infection. The study has revealed that the background level of antibodies to meningococci in healthy persons is mainly formed due to meningococcal carriership. Antibodies to cross-reacting meningococcal antigens have been shown to be capable of being transferred transplacentally.