Summary
The results of neutralization and complement-fixation tests for antibodies against adenovirus types 1, 2, 3, and 4 were compared in 41 persons who did not have disease attributable to these agents at the time sera were drawn for testing. There was a dissociation between the results of the two tests with regard to the presence or absence of antibody and the magnitude of antibody titers in individual sera. In another group of 5 persons, varying degrees of persistence of complement-fixing antibody titer were demonstrated from periods of 1 year to 7 years or more. Finally, 20 to 26 persons with neutralizing antibody against adenovirus type 4 in 1954 were found to have such antibody in sera available 5 to 7 years previously. It is suggested that differences in the rate of disappearance of complement-fixing and neutralizing antibodies might explain, at least in part, the previously noted dissociations.
Footnotes
This investigation was conducted under the sponsorship of the Commission on Acute Respiratory Diseases, Armed Forces Epidemiological Board, and was supported in part by the Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army, and by grants from the Brush Foundation, the Robert Hamilton Bishop, Jr. Endowment Fund, and Mr. Philip R. Mather.
