Antibodies against adeno-, cytomegalo and rubella viruses in Australia-antigen-negative sera from patients with infectious hepatitis.

Antibodies neutralizing adenovirus type 5 were found in all of 50 pairs (100%) of sera from patients with acute icteric infectious hepatitis. The incidence in sera from the general population was 57%. No differences in mean titre or in proportion of positive sera were found in the same sera tested for complement-fixing antibodies to cytomegalovirus and for antibodies to rubella virus haemagglutinin. The results can be interpreted as supporting the involvement, either direct or indirect, of adenovirus in the aetiology of infectious hepatitis; but could also be due to a non-specific anamnestic enhancement of the production of antibody to adenovirus, or to coincidental infection with adenovirus and the agent of infectious hepatitis.