Rapid Diagnosis of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection

Seventy-eight unselected children under the age of 2 years suffering from acute respiratory infections were investigated by the fluorescent antibody technique and a comparison was made with conventional isolation and serological methods. Sixty-nine per cent. of children with bronchiolitis were diagnosed as suffering from respiratory syncytial virus infection on the day of admission by examination of nasopharyngeal secretions. There were 44 children with respiratory syncytial virus infection diagnosed by conventional methods over a