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STUDIES OF ARTHROPOD‐BORNE VIRUS INFECTIONS IN QUEENSLAND
Author(s) -
Doherty RL,
Carley JG
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
australian journal of experimental biology and medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0004-945X
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1960.46
Subject(s) - dengue fever , virology , complement fixation test , serology , dengue virus , population , plaque reduction neutralization test , neutralization , encephalitis , antibody , biology , virus , medicine , immunology , environmental health
SUMMARY Serological studies of 62 patients with clinical dengue in the 1953–55 epidemic in North Queensland demonstrated the diagnostic value of the haemagglutination‐inhibition test against Murray Valley encephalitis antigen. Two distinct patterns of response to complement‐fixation, haemagglutination‐inhibition, and neutralization tests were demonstrated, and are considered to represent first and second infections with dengue. The age distribution of antibodies suggested that about 40 p.c. of the non‐immune population of Brisbane were infected in the 1942–44 epidemic of dengue. No evidence was found of more recent dengue infection in Brisbane, but one patient from Cooktown had evidence of dengue infection between 1947 and 1953, when no epidemic was recognized. Neutralization tests demonstrated that the human immunity pattern to group B arthropodborne viruses at Brisbane, Townsville, Innisfail, the Atherton Tableland and Lockhart River Mission was due to infection with dengue, and not with MVE. However, evidence of MVE infection at Townsville since 1956 was found in fowl sera. Sera from Coen and Wrotham Park showed evidence of infection with MVE, and not with dengue. Evidence is presented that the 1925–26 and 1953–55 epidemics of dengue in Queensland were due to dengue type 1, and the 1942–44 epidemic predominantly to dengue type 2, but with some cases due to dengue 1. It was necessary to use suckling mice to determine neutralization indices in order to obtain a type‐specific response.