1 The Department of Pediatrics, Baylor University College of Medicine.
Routine studies, for isolation and identification of the infectious agent, were made on patients showing signs of clinical encephalitis. The following results cover a period of about 10 years:
A strain of virus immunologically identical with the virus of St. Louis encephalitis was recovered from the peripheral blood. One of 81 attempts gave positive result, approximately 1%.
Seven strains of virus, comprising five of lymphocytic choriomeningitis, one of vaccinia and one of herpes simplex, were isolated from spinal fluid in 7 of 304 attempts, approximately 2%.
Increasing titer of type specific antibody to the virus of St. Louis encephalitis was demonstrated in 17 of 152 patients during the course of clinical encephalitis, approximately 1%.
Submitted on June 3, 1948