Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1990 Oct;105(2):435-46.
doi: 10.1017/s0950268800048019.

The time course of the immune response to experimental coronavirus infection of man

K A Callow  1 , H F Parry, M Sergeant, D A Tyrrell
Affiliations

The time course of the immune response to experimental coronavirus infection of man

K A Callow et al. Epidemiol Infect. 1990 Oct.

Abstract

After preliminary trials, the detailed changes in the concentration of specific circulating and local antibodies were followed in 15 volunteers inoculated with coronavirus 229E. Ten of them, who had significantly lower concentrations of pre-existing antibody than the rest, became infected and eight of these developed colds. A limited investigation of circulating lymphocyte populations showed some lymphocytopenia in infected volunteers. In this group, antibody concentrations started to increase 1 week after inoculation and reached a maximum about 1 week later. Thereafter antibody titres slowly declined. Although concentrations were still slightly raised 1 year later, this did not always prevent reinfection when volunteers were then challenged with the homologous virus. However, the period of virus shedding was shorter than before and none developed a cold. All of the uninfected group were infected on re-challenge although they also appeared to show some resistance to disease and in the extent of infection. These results are discussed with reference to natural infections with coronavirus and with other infections, such as rhinovirus infections.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. J Med Virol. 1980;5(3):221-9 - PubMed
    1. Infect Immun. 1982 Nov;38(2):419-23 - PubMed
    1. J Biol Chem. 1951 Nov;193(1):265-75 - PubMed
    1. J Hyg (Lond). 1961 Sep;59:309-19 - PubMed
    1. Epidemiol Infect. 1989 Dec;103(3):659-69 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources