IgA Deficiency and Influenza Infection

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Abstract
A prospective study of influenza was carried out on 90 blood donors deficient for serum IgA as tested with double immunodiffusion. Half of them lacked IgA even by radioimmunoassay (RIA). A correlation existed between serum haemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) antibody and resistance to infection, suggesting that the serum HI antibody was an important determinant of protection. The rate of infection as evidenced by a fourfold or greater rise in HI titre, was about the same in the RIA-negative and RIA-positive donors and slightly higher than the corresponding rate in pregnant women and in a ship's crew.