Agglutinin response to bacterial infection in acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis.

Agglutinin titres to Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Proteus vulgaris in the serum of patients with acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, patients producing mucoid sputum, and healthy controls were determined. Serological evidence of infection with H. influenzae was found in 38 of 57 patients with acute exacerbations, and Str. pneumoniae infection in 10 of the 57 patients, but was generally absent from healthy control subjects and from patiens producing mucoid sputum. No serological evidence of infection with other organisms named above was found to be associated with exacerbations of chronic bronchitis. Ten patients with acute exacerbations were without serological evidence of infection by any of the bacteria tested.