High Incidence Of Antibodies Research Articles

Persistence of viral antibodies in patients with chronic bronchitis.

An acute exacerbation of bronchitis is preceded sometimes by a common cold or influenza-like illness, and for this reason viruses have been incriminated as the initiating factor in such attacks. During the past 10 years many workers have attempted to elucidate the role of viruses in exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, but the results have been contradictory and attempts to isolate a virus have been particularly disappointing. In a survey carried out by Murdoch, Leckie, Downie, Swain, and Gould (1959) on outpatients in Edinburgh, 14 out of 31 patients showed a rise in complement-fixing antibodies to either influ enza A, B, or C or adenovirus, but only three of these rises could be associated with clinical infection. Jack and Gandevia (1960) reported completely negative virological findings in 19 patients during one year. Stark, Heath, and Curwen (1965) examined sera from outpatients in London at four-week inter vals: 23 out of 199 patients showed evidence of viral infection, and in 13 this could be correlated with an exacerbation. A more comprehensive study was carried out by Carilli, Gohd, and Gordon (1964) in Boston: 46 cases of respiratory illness occurred, and 23 of these could be associated with viral infec tions ; respiratory syncytial virus alone appeared to be respon sible for 17%, but no common-cold viruses were isolated. Sommerville (1963) has also shown a high incidence of anti bodies to respiratory syncytial virus in sera from chronic bronchitics in Glasgow. More recent studies in the Glasgow area showed 16% of exacerbations to be associated with rising titres to various respiratory viruses (Ross, McMichael, Eadie, Lees, Murray, and Pinkerton, 1967). The patients included in the present survey had been included in the Medical Research Council Early Bronchitis Trial, and the clinical and bacteriological findings will be published separately (Calder and Schonell, 1967). Sera have been taken from these men at approximately eight-week intervals since December 1961 and have been tested for complement-fixing antibodies to the respiratory viruses to detect evidence of infection. The survey also provided the opportunity to study the length of time for which antibody titres persist in patients with chronic bronchitis.

The distribution of complement-fixing antibody and growth-inhibiting antibody to Mycoplasma hominis.

Sera from 3163 patients were examined for growth-inhibiting and complement-fixing antibody to Mycoplasma hominis. The results were analysed in respect of the age and sex of the patients. Antibodies were found to be uncommon in young people but increased in frequency with age; they were present in old men but were less common in women over sixty-five. Patients attending V.D. clinics and prison inmates had a much higher incidence of antibody than hospital and ante-natal patients. Complement-fixing antibody was approximately three times as common as growth-inhibiting antibody in the sample examined; it was also more common in women than men but the overall incidence of growth-inhibiting antibody was the same in each sex. It was concluded that possibly growth-inhibiting antibody is produced in more severe infections and that it disappears from the serum more quickly than complement-fixing antibody.

Yellow fever and other arthropod-borne viruses: A consideration of two serological surveys made in South Western Nigeria

1. 1) Serological surveys employing mouse protection tests have been made in two places in south western Nigeria. 2. 2) A high incidence of antibodies was found against Bwamba fever, dengue, Uganda S., yellow fever and Zika viruses; a low incidence was found against Bunyamwera, Mengo, Semliki Forest and West Nile viruses. 3. 3) The association of positive results in different protection tests was analysed and significant associations were found at Ilobi between positive results in the following pairs of viruses: Zika and dengue, Zika and Uganda S., Zika and yellow fever but not between yellow fever and Uganda S., dengue and yellow fever or Uganda S. and dengue. However, at Ilaro, yellow fever and Uganda S. did show a positive association. Amongst triads taken from this complex of four Group B viruses, positive tests to Zika and Uganda S. were remarkably associated with a positive test to yellow fever. Thus a positive test to Zika virus was found in nearly all the significant associations. 4. 4) Possible causes of the associations are discussed and it is considered that serological overlap is the most likely. 5. 5) Although the serological overlaps may not occur with sufficient frequency to interfere seriously with the interpretation of epidemiological serological surveys, nevertheless their presence may account for certain observed abnormalities in the clinical epidemiology of yellow fever in Nigeria. 6. 6) The hypothesis is advanced that the low incidence of clinical yellow fever in certain parts of Nigeria is due to tolerance of this virus induced by prior infections with related virus.