Serological Evidence of Infection by Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Outbreak of Acute Bronchiolitis

Abstract

This paper deals with a virological investigation into epidemic bronchiolitis of infancy. Out of a total of 170 cases, paired sera were obtained from 78 unselected patients in the first eight weeks of the three-month-long epidemic. The sera were examined by the complement-fixation test for a variety of viruses. Almost 50% of cases gave undoubted serological evidence of infection by R.S. virus. It is concluded that the R.S. virus is the predominant cause of acute bronchiolitis in infancy. © 1964, British Medical Journal Publishing Group. All rights reserved.