Trachoma virus isolation studies on Taiwan.

Studies on trachoma have been carried out on Taiwan since 1958 by the US Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2. Routine methods for the collection of virus specimens, storage and processing of successful virus isolation are presented in this paper.A special virus isolation study on clinically active cases has shown that 49% positive diagnoses were made at the first examination, 58% at the second and 63% at the third. Detection of virus positive specimens by inclusion bodies alone would have diagnosed only 19%, 30% and 34% of the cases. Combining results of both tests increased the positive diagnosis to 57%, 64% and 68% respectively. Administration of oxytetracycline ophthalmic ointment for two series of intermittent treatments reduced virus isolations by 48% in a single test. The clinical findings in the treated cases showed only minor changes.