Relationship of Rhinovirus Infection to Mild Upper Respiratory Disease

Abstract

DURING the last 3 years viruses belonging to a newly recognized group have been recovered from a significant proportion of patients with mild undifferentiated respiratory disease.^1-7 Strains have been isolated from infants and children, and from adults in college and from industrial populations.^1-6 In addition, these agents have been shown to be prevalent in a military recruit population.⁷ When administered to volunteers a number of strains have produced an illness like the common cold.^{1, 3,4, 8-10} Recently, the name "rhinovirus" was suggested for this group of agents by the Subcommittee on Virus Nomenclature of the Eighth International Congress of Microbiology.¹¹ Rhinoviruses are similar to the enteroviruses (enteric cytopathogenic human orphan [ECHO], polioviruses, and Coxsackie viruses) in their cytopathic effect in tissue culture, size (20 to 30 mμ) and resistance to ether.^12-14 They differ from the enteroviruses in being labile at pH 3.0 to