Respiratory syncytial virus associated with acute respiratory infections in Trinidadian patients

ABSTRACT

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)