Relation of the New Respiratory Agents to Acute Respiratory Diseases

Abstract

The RI-67 agent isolated by Hilleman and Werner was clearly related to the acute respiratory disease (ARD). Evidence indicates, however, that other agents which are immunologically distinct also are responsible for cases of this syndrome. The data obtained imply that occasional cases of ARD have pulmonary infiltration. From cases of nonbacterial pharyngitis which occurred in Cleveland in a family-study population during July and August, 1954, adenoid degeneration (AD) agents were isolated. The Type III agent was the predominant virus implicated, although at least one other immunologic type was shown to be associated with clinical cases. The data obtained clearly imply that the viruses isolated were the causal agents of the cases of non-bacterial pharyngitis.