Virus Neutralizing Antibodies in Pooled Human Serum

Abstract

The titer of neutralizing antibodies to Coxsackie viruses in pooled human serum and human gamma globulin has been estimated in samples covering a period of twelve years. The construction of antibody titer curves for each infective agent demonstrated marked differences in the behaviour of some of the Coxsackie viruses. It was shown that group A and group B Coxsackie virus antibodies were widespread throughout the Western Pacific Area and present in all sera examined. Antibody to the group of Coxsackie viruses associated with an outbreak of encephalitis in Sydney was confined to the Sydney Metropolitan Area and to some of the Highland natives of New Guinea. It is thought that the nature of the antibody titer curves reflects to some extent the degree of immunity of the adult population of a large city to the infective agent under consideration. The estimation of the herpetic antibody content of pooled human serum was used for comparison.