High prevalence of HTLV antibodies in wild-caught bonnet monkeys in southern India.

The prevalence of human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) type-1 antibodies was determined in the bonnet monkeys, living naturally, within about 30 km radius of Vellore (south India). Sera from 157 animals, collected between January 1982 and May 1993 were screened for the presence of HTLV-I infection by a particle agglutination test (PAT). When sera repeatedly reactive in PAT were subjected to indirect immunofluorescence and western blot tests, 63 (40%) were confirmed to be positive for HTLV-1 antibody. These findings are significant in the light of recent reports that HTLV infection is endemic to southern India.

Immune response to purified chick embryo cell culture rabies vaccine manufactured in India.

The immunogenic efficacy of the first batch of indigenous purified chick embryo cell culture grown (PCEC) rabies virus vaccine has been measured in ten subjects. All of them were immunologically naive to rabies virus, and were given 5 doses of the vaccine in the post-exposure regime of injections on days 0, 3, 7, 14 and 30. On day 7, four subjects had developed very low levels of rabies virus neutralizing antibody, as detected and measured in the suckling mouse neutralization test. On day 14, all subjects had protective levels of antibody, which were maintained or enhanced by day 30. With the limited data presented here, the immunogenic efficacy of this batch of vaccine appeared similar to that of a batch of imported PCEC vaccine investigated earlier.

Coxsackie virus A 24 variant as the etiological agent of the acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis epidemic at Vellore, in 1986.

Coxsackie virus A 24 variant (CA24v) was found to be the etiological agent of an epidemic of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis (AHC) in Vellore during the months of October and November in 1986. CA24v was isolated in 21 of 25 acutely ill patients. In addition, seroconversion was seen in 11 of the 16 patients from whom paired sera were collected.