A Model for Rheumatic Carditis?

Excerpt

Over the last 10 years Cromartie, Schwab, and their associates have been carrying out an intriguing series of experiments with cell wall fragments of group A (and C) streptococci (1). These preparations injected into the skin of rabbits cause, after a latent period of 2 to 14 days, relapsing nodular lesions of the skin for as long as 80 days after a single injection. The process appears to be not immunologic but rather "toxic" in the wide sense of the word because damage starts after 3 hr only and is not affected by repeated injections. Interestingly, neither whole streptococcal cells