Sendai Virus Antibody in Acute Respiratory Infections and Infectious Mononucleosis

Summary Measurement of antibodies in acute and convalescent serums from college students hospitalized because of acute, nonbacterial respiratory infections revealed 5 cases of influenza-like illness and 6 cases of viral pneumonia with 4-fold or greater increases in reactivity with Sendai virus measurable by hemagglutination-inhibition and neutralization in ovo. Thirteen of 110 patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis were found to develop increases in serum reactivity with Sendai virus during their illnesses. Efforts to isolate a virus from throat washings of 17 of these patients were unsuccessful. The possible role of Sendai virus in the etiology of these illnesses and the significance of the antibody responses were discussed.