Naturally occurring antibodies to the human syncytial virus in West Africa

The seroepidemiology of the human syncytial virus has been investigated by means of an indirect immunofluorescence test on 113 sera from normal antenatal women in Nigeria and 233 sera from normal individuals of both sexes and all ages in the Ivory Coast. It was found that 3.5% of samples from Nigeria and 19.7% of those from the Ivory Coast were positive. The findings are discussed.