AN OUTBREAK OF ACUTE RESPIRATORY DISEASE IN TRINIDAD ASSOCIATED WITH PARA-INFLUENZA VIRUSES

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Abstract
Bisno, A. L (Dept. Medicine, University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tenn. 38103), N. P. Barratt, W. H. Swanston and L P. Spence. An outbreak of acute respiratory disease in Trinidad associated with para-influenza viruses. Amer. J. Epid., 1970, 97: 68–77.—An outbreak of acute respiratory disease occurred among infants and pre-school-age children in northern Trinidad during the last quarter of 1967. There were 556 admissions to Port-of-Spain General Hospital during this period. Half of the children admitted were under 2 years of age, and 84% were under 5. A broad spectrum of clinical illness was observed, ranging from upper respiratory tract infection to bronchiolitis and pneumonia. Para-influenza viruses were isolated from 12.3% of hospitalized children and were the only respiratory pathogens recovered in significant numbers. Para-influenza type 1, very rarely isolated during previous years, was the predominant serotype. Of 161 household contacts on whom paired sera were available, 14.3% had serologic evidence of recent para-influenza infection. Although age-specific prevalence rates among household contacts were similar, respiratory illness more frequently ensued in younger individuals. Previous studies by the Trinidad Regional Virus Laboratory had shown para-influenza to be a cause of sporadic respiratory infections in Trinidadian children and respiratory syncytial virus to be associated with rainy season outbreaks of variable magnitude. This large-scale rainy season epidemic associated with para-influenza virus represents an epidemiologic pattern not previously recognized in Trinidad.

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