While influenza viruses are a common respiratory pathogen, sporadic reports of conjunctivitis following human infection demonstrates the ability of this virus to cause disease outside of the respiratory tract. The ocular surface represents both a potential site of virus replication and a portal of entry for establishment of a respiratory infection. However, the properties which govern ocular tr...

To test the hypothesis that an episode of upper respiratory tract infection or heterologous immunisation is a predisposing factor for the occurrence of meningococcal disease, data from 377 cases of meningococcal disease and their household contacts (n = 1124) were analysed by conditional logistic regression analysis with stratification for household. The odds ratio for a recent upper respirator...

ABSTRACT             Background and objectives: Coronaviruses are the main causes of respiratory tract infections in humans. They are also the second leading cause of common cold after rhinoviruses, and can lead to otitis media and asthma. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular detection of coronaviruses in clinical samples of patients with flu-like symptoms.             Metho...

Coronavirus is a common cause of upper respiratory tract infection in children and has also been occasionally associated with lower respiratory tract infections. Use of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction has aided in the rapid and reliable detection of these viruses, and thus has led to identification of these viruses as etiology of respiratory disease in more cases. We here presen...

Pulse oximetry was used to measure transcutaneous arterial oxygen saturation in infants aged 2 to 11 months prone and supine in quiet sleep. Groups of healthy infants (n = 34), infants with upper respiratory tract infections (n = 13), and infants with generalised moderately severe lower respiratory tract infections (n = 17) were studied. No clinically important differences were demonstrated in ...

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the significance of IFN-gamma and IL-4 production in controlling mycoplasma infection and the pathogenesis of disease in the upper and lower respiratory tract. By using IFN-gamma knockout and IL-4 knockout BALB/c mice, we were able to study the contribution of these cytokines in the development of pathogenesis and/or protection in response to mycoplasma ...

Acute upper respiratory tract infections (AURTIs) are the illnesses caused by an acute infection with various viruses and bacteria involving the upper respiratory tract. Shuanghuanglian (SHL) injection, a Chinese medicine intravenous preparation extracted from honeysuckle, Scutellaria baicalensis, and fructus forsythiae, is commonly used to treat AURTIs. Although it is used largely in Chinese h...

Twenty four hour recordings of heart rate and respiration were made on 60 infants with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) during the acute phase of the illness, on 20 infants with upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and on 21 control infants. Infants with LRTI and URTI had more apnoeic episodes of longer than 10 seconds compared with controls. The length of apnoeic episodes was great...

Viral infection may induce the expression of nitric oxide (NO) synthase, resulting in increased NO formation that has an antiviral effect. NO may be produced by various cells of the upper and lower respiratory tract, and may be detected in the exhaled air. We have studied the levels of exhaled NO in 18 normal subjects during symptomatic upper respiratory tract infections and during recovery 3 w...