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THE INCIDENCE OF A2/HONG KONG INFECTIONS IN BLOOD DONORS DURING THE WINTER OF 1970
Author(s) -
Gill P. W.,
Murphy A. M.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1972.tb47264.x
Subject(s) - subclinical infection , incidence (geometry) , medicine , antibody , virology , immunology , demography , physics , sociology , optics
The incidence of A2/Hong Kong influenza during the winter of 1970 was calculated by testing hæmagglutination‐inhtbiting antibody in paired sera, collected from a group of blood donors before and after the winter epidemic. The results were correlated with information from clinical histories which the donors themselves had recorded on forms provided during the epidemic period. Of the 760 donors tested, 159 (20.9%) showed rising antibody titres diagnostic of A2/Hong Kong Infection and, from a study of the clinical histories, It was concluded that approximately 23% of these: infections were subclinical. Antibody to the A2/Hong Kong virus was found in the sera of 45% of donors before the 1970 epidemic and in the sera of 69% after the epidemic. The greater severity of the 1970 epidemic, compared with that of 1969; was not accompanied by a corresponding Increase in the overall incidence of Influenza.