1 Departments of Pediatrics, Microbiology, and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Orthopedic Hospital and Medical Center, and University of Washington, School of Medicine, Seattle
A group of 119 unselected cases of the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) were studied for evidence of viremia. None of 20 cases studied by standard culture methods yielded virus in the blood, and only 4 of 119 had detectable levels of serum interferon.
Coupled with previous studies, the data further suggest that viral infection, if it participates in the ultimate mechanism in SIDS, does not act by means of overwhelming viremia but rather may act locally, possibly in the respiratory tract.