The role of parainfluenza viruses in respiratory disease in Trinidad

This study, conducted in Trinidad, W.I., shows that the parainfluenza viruses are not the major cause of respiratory disease in that country. Serological tests, haemagglutination inhibition, neutralization tests and complement fixation tests show that the incidence of antibody in Trinidad is much lower than in other countries of temperate climate. Parainfluenza 1, 2, and 3 viruses were isolated from cases of respiratory disease during the course of the study but no epidemic caused by these viruses was seen. That is, no renal increase of respiratory disease reflected in increased admissions to hospital or attendance at clinics was seen that could be traced to parainfluenza virus infections. These viruses seem to be the sporadic cause of respiratory disease in trinidad. The incidence seems to be spaced over a period of months in a given year (AU)

An outbreak of acute respiratory disease in Trinidad associated with para-influenza viruses

An outbreak of acute respiratory disease occurred among infants and pre-school-age children in nothern Trinidad during the last quater of 1967. There were 556 admissions to Port-of-Spain General Hospital during this period. Half of the children admitted were under 2 years of age, and 84 percent were under 5. A broad spectrum of clinical illness was observed, ranging from upper respiratory tract infection to bronchiolitis and pnuemonia. Para-influenza viruses were isolated from 12.3 percent of hospitalised children and were the only respiratory pathogens recovered in significant numbers. Para-influenza type 1, very rarely isolated during previous years, was the predominant serotype. Of 161 household contacts on whom paired sera were available, 14.3 percent had serologic evidence of recent para-influenza infection. Although age-specific prevalence rates among household contacts were similiar, respiratory illness more frequently ensued in younger individuals. Previous studies by the Trinidad Regional Virus Laboratory had shown para-influenza to be a cause of sparadic respiratory infections in Trinidadian children and respiratory syncytial virus to be associated with rainy season outbreaks of variable magnitude. This large-scale rainy season epidemic associated with para-influenza virus represents an epidemiologic pattern not previously recognized in Trinidad (Summary)

Respiratory syncytial virus associated with acute respiratory infections in Trinidadian patients

During 1964-1966, 94 cases of acute respiratory infection in Trinidad were found to be associated with respiratory syncytial virus infection. The clinical picture ranged from mild upper respiratory tract infection to severe infection of the lower respiratry tract. Seventy-nine of the patients were less than three years of age; 70 were diagnosed clinically as having bronchiolitis or pneumonia. Outbreaks of respiratory syncytial virus infection occurred annually during the rainy season in the second half of each year. The pattern was similar to that of temperate climates where outbreakes have occurred annually in the late fall and early winter or late winter and early spring. Although respiratory syncytial virus is reported to be relatively unstable, 18 strains of the virus were recovered from pharyngeal swabs that had been stored frozen at -56 C for 6-9 months. No antigenic relationships between respiratory syncytial virus and other myxoviruses were demonstrated by complement fixation tests on paired sera from three clinical cases of respiratory syncytial virus infection. The studies demonstrate the importance of respiratory pathogen on a tropical island. (AU)

The role of parainfluenza viruses in respiratory diseases in Trinidad

Studies in other countries have shown that the parainfluenza viruses play an important role in respiratory disease especially among infants and children. Serologic evidence of infection with parainfluenza three was found to be widespread reaching up to 90 percent in children and 100 percent in adults. This study, conducted in Trinidad, W.I. shows that the parainfluenza viruses are not the major cause of respiratory disease in that country. Serological tests, hemagglutination inhibition, neutralization tests and complement fixation tests show that the incidence of antibody in Trinidad is much lower than that in other countries of temperate climate. Parainfluenza 1, 2, and 3 viruses were isolated from cases of respiratory disease during the course of the study but no epidemics caused by these viruses were seen. That is, no real increase of respiratory disease reflected in increased admissions to hospital or attendance at clinics was seen that could be traced to parainfluenza virus infections. These viruses seem to be the sporadic cause of respiratory disease in Trinidad. The incidence seems to be spaced over a period of months in a given year (AU)

Enteroviruses in a Trinidad nursery

A longitudinal study of illness and prevalence of enteroviruses was carried out in a Trinidad residential nursery. 92 enteroviruses (46 strains of Coxsackie B virus and 46 of poliovirus) were recovered from 233 faecal specimens (39.5 percent). The percentage of children who excreted viruses at any one time rose from 48 percent to 90 percent, being related to the number of specimens examined from each child. Apparent interference between Coxsackie B viruses and polioviruses was observed and the significance of this in relation to poliovirus vaccination is discussed. (AU)

Prevalence of enteroviruses in children at the General Hospital, Port-of -Spain, Trinidad, in 1960

From May to December, 1960, sixty-one stool specimens were collected from patients under 3 years of age in the Children's Medical Ward, General Hospital, Port-of-Spain, and tested for enteroviruses. Twenty-three (38 percent) of the specimens yielded viruses. Eleven of the viruses were identified as poliovirus type I, three as adenovirus type 2 and nine have not been identified. In spite of the presence of polioviruses no epidemic of poliomyelitis occurred in Trinidad in 1960 (AU)

Virological investigations on cases of poliomyelitis occuring in British Guiana in 1962

Nineteen strains of Poliovirus type 1 and 2 Coxsackie viruses were isolated from specimens taken during an outbreak of poliomyelitis from thirteen children with paralysis and four contracts. The rates of recovery of viruses from different specimens and the efficiency of various methods of virus isolation were compared (AU)

Isolation of parainfluenza viruses from patients with acute respiratory infections in Trinidad

Two strains of parainfluenza type 2 virus and one strain of parainfluenza type M virus were isolated. These viruses, of which 4 types have been described, are associated with minor respiratory illness in adults and children but in the latter pneumonia and laryngo-tracheo-bronchitis may ensue (AU)