Experimental rhinovirus infection in human volunteers exposed to ozone.

We studied 24 young adult male volunteers experimentally inoculated with type 39 rhinovirus to determine whether the course of viral infection was modified by exposure to moderate levels of ozone (0.3 ppm for 6 h per day) over the 5 days after virus inoculation. No differences in rhinovirus titers in nasal secretions, recruitment of neutrophils into nasal secretions, levels of interferon in nasal lavage fluid, in vitro lymphocyte proliferative responses to rhinovirus antigen, or levels of convalescent serum neutralizing antibody to type 39 rhinovirus were demonstrated in relation to ozone exposure. The level and pattern of ozone exposure used in this experiment had no demonstrable adverse effects on the immune responses necessary to limit and terminate rhinovirus infection of the upper respiratory tract.