A Collaborative Study of the Aetiology of Acute Respiratory Infections in Britain 1961-4. A Report of the Medical Research Council Working Party on Acute Respiratory Virus Infections
Banham, T.M.
British Medical Journal 2(5457): 319-326
1965
ISSN/ISBN: 0007-1447 PMID: 14314448 Document Number: 368589
Specimens taken from 1888 patients suffering from acute respiratory infections and mostly encountered in general practice have been tested for the presence of respiratory viruses and 575 specimens were positive; P-haemolytic streptococci, influenza, para-influenza, and respiratory syncytial viruses were isolated as well as adenoviruses, coxsackieviruses of group A and B, echoviruses, and rhinoviruses. Relatively few of these agents were isolated from 493 contacts in the same households. The symptoms and signs of the illnesses observed were analysed, and it was shown that different viruses appeared to produce on the average different diseases. It was also shown that the temporal distribution of secondary cases within the household varied according to the virus isolated. Within the large group there was a small group of patients who were admitted to children's hospitals, and in this group the pattern of illness and causative organisms was significantly different from that in the group as a whole.