Isolation Of Influenza-Virus From Liver And Muscle Biopsy Specimens From A Surviving Case Of Reyes Syndrome

Influenza virus (A/Ohio/7/76) was demonstrated by hæmagglutination and by direct electron microscopy in chick embryo fluids inoculated with liver, muscle, cerebrospinal fluid, and nasotracheal secretions obtained from a boy with Reye's syndrome, 8 days after the onset of the upper-respiratory-tract symptoms and at the height of neurological and hepatic involvement. This finding accords with the hypothesis that Reye's syndrome may be an epiphenomenon of influenza-virus infection. It is postulated that the pathogenesis of Reye's syndrome may be related to the other influenzal epiphenomena including influenzal pneumonia in previously healthy persons and influenza-associated myopathy, both of which, like Reye's syndrome, become clinically evident about 7 days after the first clinical signs of influenza.