Effect of ACTH and Cortisone upon Infection and Resistance: Symposium of Section on Microbiology of New York Academy of Medicine.

This is the sixth of the distinguished series of symposia on the study of infectious processes arranged by the section on microbiology of the New York Academy of Medicine. In line with present-day thinking, in which the emphasis has shifted from preoccupation with the discovery of the causative organism to intense interest in the response of the host and the factors which modify it, the papers probe deeply into the action of the adrenal cortex hormones under the stimulus of microbial invasion. It is surprising that, in a field in which previous knowledge was practically nonexistent, 31 active investigators approaching the problem from different angles should come up with findings that are in general agreement.

Extensive studies with experimental animals corroborate the clinical observation that the administration of corticotropin (ACTH), cortisone, and hydrocortisone greatly diminishes local inflammatory and general systemic manifestations of infection while at the same time allowing microbial