PRELIMINARY SEROEPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON HUMAN SYNCYTIAL VIRUS

The seroepidemiology of the human syncytial virus was investigated by means of an indirect immunofluorescence test on 241 sera from Kenya, Tunisia, Singapore and Britain. These included sera from patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, other tumors of the oro-nasopharynx, tumors of other parts of the body and from normal donors. The virus infected only Kenyan Africans and all but 1 of these seropositive subjects had tumors, particularly of the oro-nasopharyngeal spaces. The significance of these findings is discussed.