A Cytopathogenic Agent Isolated from Naval Recruits with Mild Respiratory Illnesses. ∗

Summary

Several agents producing the same type of cytopathology have been isolated in monkey kidney cultures from men of a recruit company in training at Great Lakes in the fall of 1954. These isolates were obtained at the onset of mild respiratory infections and rises in neutralization titers to the prototype, 2060, followed each episode. Other increments in neutralizing antibody occurred in this and another company studied during the spring of 1955. Frequency of infection by 2060 was demonstrated by titers of neutralization found in children's sera from another locale and in pooled human gamma globulin. Characteristics of the isolate indicate that it is a relatively stable virus propagable in cultures of monkey kidney and testis and human embryo kidney with a slow rate of growth. Evidence has been presented which suggests that this agent may not have been previously described. The possibilities of etiological relationship to mild respiratory illnesses have also been discussed.