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. 2005 Dec 6;13(2):131–148. doi: 10.1002/jmv.1890130204

Age‐specific prevalence of complement‐fixing antibodies to sixteen viral antigens: A computer analysis of 58,500 patients covering a period of eight years

Pentti Ukkonen 1,✉, Tapani Hovi 1, Carl‐Henrik Von Bonsdorff 1, Pekka Saikku 1, Kari Penttinen 1
PMCID: PMC7167152  PMID: 6319588

Abstract

The age‐specific prevalence of CF antibodies against 16 viral antigens was determined by using the computerized data registry of the routine diagnostic laboratory of the authors' department. The material consisted of data based on serum specimens from about 58,500 patients. All ages from newborn infants to 90‐year‐olds were represented. The sera had been collected and tested with a CF screening test over a period of 8 years (1971–1978). Several different antibody prevalence patterns were distinguished in regard to the rapidity and timing of the initial increase of the prevalence, as well as to the mode of later changes in prevalence. For most respiratory viruses a rapid increase of the prevalence was seen through the childhood continuing, for some of them, up to the 30s (influenza A and coronavirus), while rather variable patterns were found in the older age groups. Herpes simplex and cytomegaloviruses showed, interestingly, another type of pattern: a slow increase of prevalence continuing through the whole age range. The frequency of herpes simplex antibodies reached 90% by the age of 80 years. Antibody levels against any antigen in infants less than one‐month‐old were equal to those in 20‐ to 40‐year‐old adults, and the expected rapid decrease of antibodies took place within the first 6 months of life. Possible influences of epidemics and repeated exposures to different viruses (external boosting), and of latent or chronic infections (internal boosting), as wells as of technical variations, on the observed prevalence patterns are discussed.

Keywords: viral antibodies, complement fixation, aging, maternal antibodies

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