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The level of circulating immune complexes in the blood serum of patients with relapsing erysipelas was found to be correlated with the level of the antigen of group A S. haemolyticus L-forms, this antigen entering in to the composition of the immune complexes. In 68% of cases the antigen of the streptococcal L-forms was bound and only in 20% of cases, free. High titers of antibodies to group A S. haemolyticus L-forms in patients with relapsing erysipelas at the absence of free antigen indirectly suggests that the antigen is incorporated into antigen-antibody complexes.

Histological, histochemical, and immunofluorescent methods were used to study alterations in the hearts of 250 randombred white mice inoculated once intraperitoneally with a stable culture of L-forms of beta-hemolytic group A streptococcus in a dose of 2 x 10(6) CFU and sacrificed at intervals of 1 day to 1 year after inoculation. The development of chronic progressive pathological process (inflammatory, dystrophic, and sclerotic) involving all the membranes of the heart and running against an increasing allergic background was demonstrated. In connective tissue formations of the heart, the antigen of streptococcus L-forms could be detected by immunofluorescence throughout the duration of the experiment. The observed pathogenicity of streptococcus L-forms indicates the necessity of elucidating their role in human infectious pathology.