Journal of medical virology
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The humoral immune response to Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) was investigated in old and young adults. RSV was identified by culture and/or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 52 elderly (mean age 74 years) and 15 young adults (mean age 33 years) with respiratory illness. ⋯ The exuberant antibody response seen in older adults may be a reflection of greater viral load and antigenic stimulation and/or a shift from Th1 to Th2 dominant immune response with aging. The relationship of immune response to disease pathogenesis in older persons deserves further study.
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Comparative Study
Influenza virological surveillance in children: the use of the QuickVue rapid diagnostic test.
New rapid diagnostic methods are needed to identify influenza infections to improve virological surveillance usually undertaken with conventional time-consuming, complex, and even expensive laboratory methods. Another reason for using a rapid test is to avoid inappropriate therapy, particularly in children, where use of antibiotics inappropriately and high influenza-related rates of hospitalisation are described. During two winter seasons, the performance of the QuickVue Influenza test (QV) was evaluated in children under 14 presenting with influenza like illness, and compared the results with those obtained from sentinel network surveillance using standard protocols for the sample collection and the laboratory analysis by virus culture and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). ⋯ The results showed a better sensitivity (54.5%) of the test in comparison with virus culture and RT-PCR assays. The data indicate that rapid QV testing in the physician office setting, using these easily obtained samples, may be too insensitive to be useful for surveillance and for immediate clinical management of children presenting with influenza-like illness. Nevertheless, the QV test may be a valuable diagnostic tool if used in laboratory, as a rapid screening test.