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A radioactive, single radial immunodiffusion technique (RSRID) employing 125I- labelled antiglobulins, was developed to determine rubella-specific serum IgG and IgA and nasopharyngeal lgA antibody responses following both naturally acquired rubella and vaccination with four attenuated vaccines. Rubella-specific IgG anti- bodies developed in parallel with haemagglutination inhibiting (HAI) antibodies and both persisted for at least a year in all cases of naturally acquired and vaccine induced infection. However, the RSRID test detected rises in titre in all of five volunteers challenged intranasally with RA27/3, whereas only one volunteer showed a rise by HAI. Serum IgA antibodies generally persisted for at least a year following naturally acquired infection hut rubella vaccines induced variable responses. Thus. following administration of RA2713 and To-336 vaccines. rubella-specific lgA usually persisted for a year. whereas Cendehill vaccine failed to induce a detectable response. Rubella-specific nasopharyngeal IgA was detected in all five patients following naturally acquired infection and was still present in the only two patients tested a year after infection. These antibodies were detected in fourteen of twenty-three vaccinees at 3 weeks, but persisted for a year in only two vaccinees, both of whom were given RA27/3 intranasally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five hundred and seventy three of 606 (94.6%), 583 of 604 (96.5%) and 575 of 595 (96.6%) women were found to have antibody to rubella virus, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus, respectively. The Geometric Mean Titre (GMT) of haemagglutination-inhibition antibody to rubella virus was 60.97, while the GMT of complement-fixation antibody to cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus were 28.49 and 25.01, respectively. Furthermore, 301 of 517 (58.2%) women were also found to possess antibody to toxoplasma (GMT = 10.12) as detected by the passive-haemagglutination test. No significant differences in antibody prevalence or GMT could be found among the various nationalities studied except among Bedouins who showed a significantly higher rate and GMT of antibody to rubella virus and for the Mediterranean Arabs who showed significantly higher rate of immunity to and GMT of toxoplasma antibody when compared to other nationalities. Finally, no significant differences in antibody prevalence or GMT could be found among the various age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Al-Nakib W [Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kuwait, PO Box 24923 Safat, Kuwait, Arabian Gulf] Chrystie I L, Banatvala J E and Al-Sayegh F. Rotavirut and non-bacterial infantile gaitroenteritis in Kuwait. 1980, 9: 355–359. The role of rotavirut in non-bacterial gastroenteritis in Kuwait was investigated. Employing electronmicroscopy (EM) and enzyme-linked-immuno-iorbent-assay (ELISA) techniques, the virus was detected in the stools of 42 of 274 (15.3%) infants with the disease. A statistically significant association (P<0.05) was found between virus excretion and age since 37 of 42 (88.1%) of rotavirut positive cases were aged 2–12 months. 57.1% of all rota-viruses detected were among specimens collected during the first 3 days since onset of clinical symptoms. In addition a highly significant relationship (P<0.01) was found between virus excretion and seasonal variation since highest virus excretion rates (76.1%) were detected in specimens collected during the autumn and early winter months, and coincided with the annual gastroenteritis season in Kuwait. Diarrhoea and vomiting were the most frequently encountered clinical symptoms being present in 92.9% and 76.2% of all rotavirus positive patients, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Following a tolerance study, double-blind placebo controlled trials were conducted to determine the prophylactic effect of zinc gluconate lozenges on rhinovirus challenge and, in a third study, their therapeutic efficacy when given at the start of colds caused by virus inoculation was tested. In the prophylaxis study a total of 57 volunteers received lozenges of either zinc gluconate (23 mg) (29 volunteers) or matched placebo (28 volunteers) every 2 h while awake during a period of four and a half days. They were challenged with 10 tissue culture infecting dose (TCID) of human rhinovirus 2 (HRV-2) on the second day of medication, and were monitored daily for symptoms and signs of colds and laboratory evidence of infection. Zinc reduced the total mean clinical score from 8.2 in the placebo group to 5.7 and the reduction of the mean clinical score was statistically significant on the second day after virus challenge. In the therapeutic study 69 volunteers were inoculated with 10 TCID of HRV-2 and those who developed cold symptoms were randomly allocated to receive either zinc gluconate lozenges (six volunteers) or matched placebo lozenges (six volunteers) every two hours they were awake for six days. Treatment of colds with zinc reduced the mean daily clinical score and this was statistically significant on the fourth and fifth day of medication. Similarly, medication also reduced the mean daily nasal secretion weight and total tissue count and these reductions were statistically significant on days two and six for nasal secretion weights and days four to six of medication for tissue counts when compared with placebo. There were also statistically significant reductions in the mean total nasal secretion weights and total tissue counts. Zinc, however, had no significant effect on the rate or amount of virus excreted by volunteers. We conclude that zinc gluconate lozenges are reasonably well tolerated and that they have a significant effect on the signs and symptoms of colds caused by rhinoviruses, although the mechanism of action remains obscure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The antirhinovirus agent chalcone Ro 09–0410 was tested in double-blind place-controlled volunteer trials for its protective efficacy against experimental rhinovirus infection. Fifty volunteers received either drug (26 volunteers) or placebo (24 volunteers) both before and after challenge with 20–40 tissue culture infecting dose (TCID) of human rhinovirus 2 (RV2). There was no evidence that medication significantly reduced the incidence of infection or illness, indeed there was some increase in the nasal secretion produced. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The initial prophylactic and therapeutic trials of ICI 130, 685 against influenza A virus infection are reported. Prophylaxis with either 200 mg/day (38 volunteers received drug and 40 received placebo) or 100 mg/day (28 volunteers received drug and 28 received placebo) for seven days significantly reduced illness, mean clinical score and nasal secretion weight when volunteers were challenged with 10 EID of influenza virus A/Eng/40/83 (HN). Overall, prophylaxis with 200 mg/day and 100 mg/day gave 91% and 72% protection against illness relative to placebo, respectively. In addition, prophylaxis with both regimens for seven days also significantly reduced the number of volunteers who excreted virus. In a therapeutic study, volunteers were inoculated with the same dose of virus and those who developed symptoms which persisted for 6–15 h were treated with 200 mg/day of drug (20 volunteers) or placebo (19 volunteers) for four days. Generally, treatment reduced both the amount of virus excreted and the mean daily clinical score. However, these reductions were only statistically significant (P <0.05) on the third day of medication for the amount of virus excreted and on the fourth day of treatment for the mean clinical score. It was concluded that ICI 130, 685 is effective in the prevention and treatment of influenza virus infection. An initial tolerance study in 16 volunteers who received either drug (200 mg/day) (8 volunteers) or placebo (8 volunteers) for seven days, indicated that the drug was generally well tolerated. Combining data from all studies, 43% of volunteers who received the drug at the 200 mg/day dosage and 21% who received placebo complained of one or more symptoms. However, symptoms were generally minor and of short duration. At the lower dosage (100 mg/day) the symptoms were qualitatively similar to those reported with placebo. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Detection of rubella virus-specific IgM employing trypsin-treated human group O erythrocytes was evaluated using the method of sera fractionation on sucrose density gradients (SDG) and that of sera absorption with staphylococcal protein A. The former method proved to be highly specific and sensitive in confirming or excluding rubella by demonstration of specific IgM. In contrast, the latter method provided comparable results in only 71.43% of specimens tested by both methods while false-positive or -negative IgM results were obtained in the remaining 28.57% of specimens. In view of these results, therefore, it is recommended that all those specimens found positive for specific IgM by the protein A method must be confirmed by another procedure, possibly that of specific IgM reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The modification of the standard rubella haemagglutination-inhibition (HAI) test using trypsin-treated human group O erythrocytes instead of chick erythrocytes was evaluated. In a comparative study we found that, of 816 samples tested by both methods, the titres of 807 (98.9%) sera were in close agreement within an acceptable twofold difference. Trypsin-treated human group O erythrocytes usually provided titres that were twofold higher than those obtained with chick erythrocytes. In general, a very good correlation between the two methods was obtained. Data are presented that emphasise the importance of trypsin treatment of human group O erythrocytes before use in the HAI method. Furthermore, we found that trypsin-treated human group O erythrocytes can be stored for periods of up to 30 days and used in the HAI test without any appreciable loss of sensitivity or specificity. Moreover, we replaced chick erythrocytes with trypsin-treated human group O erythrocytes in the sucrose density gradient/HAI method used for the detection of rubella virus-specific IgM and found it to be a very satisfactory method. In view of these findings we recommend that trypsin-treated human group O erythrocytes should replace chick erythrocytes in the standard rubella HAI test since the former provided not only a more sensitive, more economic, and less time-consuming method but also a technique which is as specific as that using chick erythrocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]