The mechanisms of immunity and
allergy, at play in every
infectious disease, must be comprehended before the pathogenesis of an
infection can be appreciated.Immunity,
allergy and serology are concerned with specific antigen-antibody reactions. In immunity the principal concern is with the final disposition of
antigen (agglutination, lysis, and phagocytosis). In
allergy attention is focused upon tissue damage resulting from
antigen-antibody union. In serology interest is devoted to the presence of antibody as evaluated by certain visible in vitro reactions-precipitin, agglutination, opsonization and
complement fixation tests. There are two types of
allergic reaction-the immediate or anaphylactic type and the delayed type or the allergic disease of
infection. Neither kind takes part in the mechanism of immunity. At this time the allergic antibody and the immune antibody must be considered as two different and distinct
antibodies. Skin and serologic tests are important diagnostic
aids in certain pulmonary mycotic
infections-for example,
coccidioidomycosis,
blastomycosis,
histoplasmosis and
moniliasis. Clinical expressions of
allergy may appear in
coccidioidomycosis,
histoplasmosis and
moniliasis. Pulmonary
mycoses are divided into three groups, that is, the endogenous
mycoses (
actinomycosis,
moniliasis,
geotrichosis), the endogenous-exogenous
mycoses (
cryptococcosis,
aspergillosis,
mucormycosis) and the exogenous
mycoses (
nocardiosis,
coccidioidomycosis,
histoplasmosis,
North American blastomycosis). The diagnosis and treatment of the important mycotic
infections that invade lung tissue are discussed.