Serum IgG, IgA and IgM changes during infectious complications induced by facultative pathogenic gram-negative bacteria.

IgG, IgA, and IgM concentrations were measured at 40 acute and 9 chronic patients continuously during complications induced by facultative pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria, primarily by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. On the basis of the results the sudden decrease of Ig concentrations at the onset of complications, during shock, and before death was, beside the consuming effect of antigen-antibody reactions, most probably a consequence of increased capillary permeability and haemodinamic disorders due to antigen-antibody reactions and the effect of endotoxin. It was conspicuous, that a correlation could be found between the concentration of IgM and the development or final outcome of the complications: IgM values in cases of lethal complications in the acute patients were essentially lower than in the other patients surviving severe complications, even at the early period of complications still without any clinical signs of the outcome.