VIRUSES FROM THE COMMON COLD. A SURVEY IN ROYAL AIR FORCE RECRUITS ON ARRIVAL FROM CIVILIAN LIFE.

Abstract

Twenty-three strains of rhinovirus were isolated from 102 patients who had common colds on arrival at a Royal Air Force recruit centre during a 6-month period from June to November, 1960. Three of these strains were M type rhino-viruses similar to ECHO 28 virus. Twenty strains were H type rhinoviruses which fell into six or more different antigenic types. Two of these types were similar to the prototypes Sal/1/58/H and Sheffield/1/60/H. Three types were antigenically distinct from those previously reported in this country and several strains are still unclassified. Other human respiratory viruses were not isolated from common colds occurring at this time among the population studied.We are indebted to the Senior Medical Officer of R.A.F. Cardington for providing facilities for the investigation, to Squadron Leader M. Shearer for his help in collecting convalescent blood specimens, and to the Director-General of the Royal Air Force Medical Service for permission to publish this paper.We wish to acknowledge the excellent technical assistance of Miss Ann Deacon. We should also like to thank Dr H. E. M. Kay of the Royal Marsden Hospital for supplying human embryo kidney.