Immunoconglutinin response in patients with acute viral respiratory disease.

Immunoconglutinin response was studied in military recruits experiencing naturally-acquired acute respiratory disease (ARD) in the course of their training. The study population was divided into a group that experienced clinically the most severe disease (the ill' category) and a group that had the mildest infections (the well' category). None of the individuals in the study population were entirely free of illness during the 10-week period of observation. Significant differences in the mean immunoconglutinin titre levels were found between the ill and the well subjects (<0·01). There was also a significant trend in titre levels during the period of observation for the ill subjects (<0·01) and no significant trend for the individuals in the well category. The significant curvilinear trend for the ill subjects indicated that for this group a peak titre was reached at about the sixth week of training or approximately 3 weeks following the peak incidence of the acute illness. It is concluded that immunoconglutinin can be considered as a `convalescent-phase reactant', which could serve as a useful parameter of activity and severity of the disease process.