Crippling lung disease after measles and adenovirus infection.

Four children who developed severe lung disease after measles are described. One child died and three have been left with severe impairment of lung function. It is suggested that secondary infection with an adenovirus was responsible for causing the lung disease in these patients. The immune response to measles was abnormal. Measles virus may have rendered the children more susceptible to serious complications from infection with the adenovirus. The many deaths from 'measles pneumonia' in developing countries and the occasional occurence of post-measles bronchiectasis in this country may be due to secondary adenovirus infections. Further viral and serological studies are required to confirm this hypothesis.