Observations on the Complement-Fixing Antibody Response in Human Poliomyelitis. Influence of Age and Vaccination Status

The CF antibody responses of 335 patients with poliomyelitis, confirmed by isolation of the virus, were examined with respect to the patient's age and immunization status. The CF test was a macroscopic tube method which employed unheated, infectious antigens prepared from HeLa cell cultures of poliovirus. A 4-fold or greater rise in the homotypic antibody titer was less often elicited in patients with type 3 infections (21%) than in those with type 1 infections (58%). The frequency and magnitude of homotypic antibody titer rises tended to decline with increasing age but this was offset by an increase in heterotypic responses with age. Among patients who had received one or more doses of inactivated poliovirus (Salk) vaccine prior to illness, both initial and convalescent-phase antibody titers tended to be higher, but significant rises in titer between early and late sera were less often demonstrated than in nonvaccinated patients of comparable age. Vaccination also obscured the age differences in homotypic antibody response noted in the nonvaccinated patients.