Marc O. Beem

Respiratory-Tract Colonization and a Distinctive Pneumonia Syndrome in Infants Infected with Chlamydia trachomatis

To learn if Chlamydia trachomatis causes in young infants a distinctive penumonia characterized by chronic, afebrile course, diffuse lung involvement and elevated serum immunoglobulins G and M, 47 black infants four to 24 weeks of age were examined for nasopharyngeal shedding of C. trachomatis and serum immunofluorescent antibody to lymphogranuloma venereum Type I. Nasopharyngeal C. trachomatis was found in 18 of 20 with the pneumonia syndrome, two of 15 with various other illnesses and 10 of 12 with inclusion conjunctivitis but without lower respiratory illness. Chlamydial antibody titers of infants with the pneumonia syndrome were significantly elevated (geometric mean-1, pneumonia vs. conjunctivitis = 24,833 vs. 1024 P less than 0.001). No other commonly recognized respiratory pathogens were consistently associated with the pneumonia syndrome. We believe these findings demonstrate an association between the distinctive pneumonia syndrome and C. trachomatis. This, in turn, is a particular facet of a more general event consisting of frequent colonization of the respiratory tract by C. trachomatis in natally acquired infection.

Association of the Chimpanzee Coryza Agent with Acute Respiratory Disease in Children

IN 1956 Morris, Blount and Savage1 described the recovery of a cytopathogenic agent that produced acute respiratory illness in chimpanzees and possibly in human beings. They termed this the chimpan...

VIROLOGIC STUDIES OF ACUTE RESPIRATORY DISEASE IN YOUNG ADULTS V. CORONAVIRUS 229E INFECTIONS DURING SIX YEARS OF SURVEILLANCE

Abstract Hamre, D. and M. Beem (DepL Pediatrics, Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, III. 60637). Virologic studies of acute respiratory disease in young adults. V. Coronavirus 229E infections during six years of surveillance. Am J Epidemiol 96: 94–106, 1972.—In a surveillance study of acute respiratory disease in medical students that spanned six consecutive seasons between 1961 and 1968 and encompassed 937 student years of observation, infection with coronavirus 229E was identified by virus isolation and serologic studies. Virus isolation identified 12 infections, 8 in one season, 4 in another. Complement fixing (CF) antibody titer rises identified 133 infections that occurred in all six seasons of surveillance, involving from 15 to 35% of students in three seasons of “high” prevalence, and 1 to 5% in intervening seasons of “low” prevalence. Infection occurred in a winter-spring seasonal pattern and was associated with acute respiratory illness that was not clinically distinctive. Neutralizing antibody to 229E was commonly present in the sera of the students. The level of this did not appear to influence the occurrence of, or likelihood of illness with, reinfection as judged by CF seroconversion; however, the frequency of significant rise in neutralizing antibody titer with reinfection was inversely related to pre-infection levels of this antibody. Infection with other common respiratory viruses did not stimulate significant CF or neutralizing antibody titer rises to 229E.

Observations on the etiology of acute bronchiolitis in infants

The etiology of acute bronchiolitis was investigated by comparing the viruses and bacteria isolated from the upper respiratory tract of 58 children with bronchiolitis and 128 healthy controls. The only virus demonstrated in significant relation to this syndrome was respiratory syncytial virus which was isolated from 55 per cent of the bronchiolitis patients and from none of the controls. Pneumococci, hemolytic streptococci, and Hemophilus influenzae were found with comparable frequency in both groups. There was significantly less frequent isolation of alpha hemolytic streptococci and Staphylococcus aureus and more frequent isolation of organisms of the coli-aerogenes group from the patients with bronchiolitis as compared with the controls.

Excessive numbers and activity of peripheral blood B cells in infants with Chlamydia trachomatis pneumonia

The peripheral blood lymphocytes of seven infants who had lower respiratory infections caused by Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydial pneumonia) were studied for abnormalities that may be related to the hyperimmunoglobulinemia characteristic of this infection. Both proportions and numbers of B cells and plasma cells were strikingly elevated in these infants, as indicted by the percentage of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) that reacted with fluorochrome-labeled antibodies to human immunoglobulins. Cells expressing IgM and IgD on their surface, and cells possessing IgM and IgG in their cytoplasm were especially increased above levels found in normal adults, infants, and a group of infants with other infections. Cells from infected infants secreted exceptionally large amounts of IgM, IgG, and IgA when cultured in the absence of added mitogens. These data suggest that chlamydial pneumonia induces substantial B-cell activation during a period of development when antibody responses are normally difficult to stimulate.

Use of human diploid cell cultures for primary isolation of respiratory syncytial virus.

Summary and Conclusion Human embryo diploid and HEp-2 cell cultures were compared in respect to efficiency in isolating R. S. virus. Although initial manifestations of viral growth were evident somewhat earlier in HEp-2 than in diploid cells, isolation rates in the two types of cell cultures were not significantly different. Comparative infectivity titrations of original patient specimens in HEp-2 and WI-38 cell cultures suggested the possibility of a slight advantage in sensitivity for the latter cell.

Use of Cell-Banked Monkey Kidney Cells for the Isolation of Respiratory Viruses.∗

Summary A procedure for preparation of freezer-banked PMK cells has been described. Such cells provide a readily available source of SMK cell cultures of known characteristics in respect to growth and Simian viruses. The yield from one pair of monkey kidneys can provide seed for 5 to 7 thousand tubes of SMK cell cultures which may be made up and used as needed over a period of several months. The spectrum of viruses that will multiply and produce cytopathic changes or hemadsorption in such cell cultures appears to be similar to that in PMK cell cultures. In specific comparisons these cells appear to equal the sensitivity of PMK cells when used for the primary isolation of parainfluenza viruses types 1, 2, and 3.