Aim Between July 2005 and May 2008, Indonesia reported 133 H5N1 confi rmed human cases with a case fatality proportion of 81%. Fifty-four percent of cases had a history of direct contact with poultry (chickens). Therefore, it is important to defi ne the detection of antibody of H5N1 among people who have intensive contact with poultry have been exposed to H5N1 viruses. Methods We collected sera...

The extent of the H1N1 pandemic has been estimated from case counts and deaths but the proportion of exposed populations with inapparent infections has not been described in detail. We analysed haemagglutination-inhibition (HI) antibody titres of pre-vaccination sera from pandemic vaccine trials conducted in six countries on four continents to provide an indication of A/CA/07/2009(H1N1)-like in...

To facilitate the diagnosis of recent rubella infection, rubella haemagglutination inhibiting antibody has been determined in four fractions obtained by Sephadex G-200 gel filtration of samples of serum. All the 21 samples collected at the convalescent stage of the disease had varying proportions of haemagglutination inhibiting antibody in fraction 1, representing the major portion of IgM antib...

Formaldehyde or gluteraldehyde cells treated with tannic acid were coated with plasminogen. These cells are agglutinated by plasminogen antiserum and this reaction can be quantitatively inhibited by purified plasminogen, plasma, and euglobulin. Correlation between this haemagglutination assay and a caseinolytic method is good. The sensitivity of the technique is high and compares favourably wit...

The benefit of annually repeated influenza vaccination on antibody formation is still under debate. In this study the effect of annually repeated influenza vaccination on haemagglutination inhibiting (HI) antibody formation in the elderly is investigated. Between 1990 and 1993 healthy young and elderly, both selected by the SENIEUR protocol, were vaccinated consecutively with commercially avail...

A total of 70 224 blood donations were tested at three Scottish blood transfusion centres for hepatitis B surface antigen /HBsAg) by an economical haemagglutination-inhibition method (E.H.A.I.) and the results compared with those of counterelectrophoresis (C.E.P.). A further 4086 donations were tested using the Wellcome turkey cell haemagglutination test, C.E.P., and E.H.A.I.E.H.A.I. was also c...

BACKGROUND Relying on surveillance of clinical cases limits the ability to understand the full impact and severity of an epidemic, especially when subclinical cases are more likely to be present in the early stages. Little is known of the infection and transmissibility of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza (pH1N1) virus outside of Mexico prior to clinical cases being reported, and of the knowledg...

A total of ninety-eight wild birds, comprising eleven different species were captured alive from Zaria environs. These birds were used for the study, to determine the possible role they play as reservoirs of blood parasites. Thin blood smears (TBS) were prepared from the blood samples collected from these wild birds. The slides were stained and viewed under the microscope for the identification...

Whereas in Europe and North America most of the influenza cases are reported between December and March, in tropical and subtropical regions such as in Brazil [1] or in Hong Kong [2] cases are seen throughout the year. Epidemic peaks in the tropical areas mostly occur in between those found in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. A recent survey over 7 years in Brazil showed that annual peaks...