Type A7 Coxsackie (type 4 poliomyelitis) virus infection in Scotland

Coxsackie A 7 virus was isolated from thirty-seven patients during an outbreak in Scotland in 1959. Seven cases were paralytic, one of them fatal. Evidence is presented that Coxsackie A 7 virus caused these paralytic illnesses. The virus was also isolated from a paralytic case in 1956 and from a non-paralytic case in 1961. Serological surveys suggest that it has been active in the community for some years. Specific haemagglutination by Coxsackie A 7 virus was useful for rapid identification of viruses and for measurement of serum antibodies.

I am grateful to Dr A. D. Macrae of the Virus Reference Laboratory, Colindale, London, for prototype Coxsackie A 7 virus; to Dr K. Habel of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, U.S.A., for tissue culture-adapted ABIV virus; to Dr J. Wallace of the Blood Transfusion Service, West of Scotland Region, for samples of blood donor sera; to Dr M. Rentsch, Klinik für Kinderkrankheiten, University of Berne, Switzerland, for permission to quote the results of virological tests of his cases; to Miss R. McLelland, F.A.T.A., and to Mr C. McLean F.I.M.L.T., for technical assistance with animal experiments; to Mr H. G. Carson, F.I.M.L.T. and to Mr J. Kerr, A.I.M.L.T., for technical assistance with neutralization tests; and to the many clinical colleagues who provided specimens and information for this study.