A survey of coxsackie A16 virus antibodies in human sera.

A comparison of neutralizing and immunofluorescent (IF) IgG antibody tests in 18 sera from 10 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) showed a variety of responses but all sera taken more than one week after infection had both neutralizing and IF IgG antibodies. A survey of IF IgG antibody in 80 paediatric and 80 adult non-HFMD case sera gave antibody detection rates of 47.5% and 11.3% respectively. This difference could be attributed to a decline in IF IgG antibody with time after infection. Three point nine per cent of 26 sera from possible adult carditis cases had IF antibody suggesting that coxsackie A16 virus was not a common cause of adult carditis. Forty-eight point three per cent of 29 sera from cases of spontaneous abortion had detectable IF antibody, a rate similar to the paediatric sera and significantly greater than that in adult male (7.9%) and other adult female (13%) sera tested. This interesting observation requires further study.