ABSTRACT
Significant aspects of the enigma of rheumatic fever have been elucidated, and bacteria with incomplete walls seem to participate as much or more than classical streptococci. The appearance of pancarditis 2 to 3 weeks after a throat infection with Group A streptococci is usually associated with a rise in streptococcal antibody.22,3 ] Prccise work by Kaplan et a1. ,2°,21 Freimcr and Zabriskie,9 and Zabriskie and coworkers44 long ago showed that antibody against the streptococcal membrane unfortunately cross-reacts with the membrane of cardiac cells . Endocarditis has been produced in mice just from the cytoplasmic membranes of streptococcal L-forms.28
