The effect of cortisone on the course of systemic moniliasis in mice

Summary

1. It was not possible to protect mice from the lethal effects of a cold environment by using cortisone if the mice had previously been infected with moniliasis. This was true whether the induced infection was a mild or severe one.

2. Only in female mice infected with moniliasis and treated with cortisone and STH was it possible to demonstrate a reversal of the deleterious effect of cortisone onCandida-infected mice. In female mice severely infected and treated with cortisone and STH, the mortality rate was less severe than that found for female mice infected with moniliasis and treated with cortisone or female mice infected but untreated.

3. Male mice severely infected profited from treatment with cortisone by showing a reduced mortality rate but this effect was completely reversed by treating infected male mice with cortisone and STH.

4. The significance and possible role of the interrelated factors of severity of infection, sex of animal, amount of cortisone and its dosage schedule, amount of STH and its dosage schedule, type of aqueous vehicle, and environmental temperature are discussed.