Children with bronchopneumonia have considerably higher Torque tenovirus (TTV) loads than do children with milder acute respiratory diseases (ARDs). Moreover, in children with ARDs, high TTV loads correlate with low percentages of circulating CD3+ and CD4+ T cells and with elevated percentages of B cells, suggesting that TTV might be inimunomodulatory. Here, we show that, in children with ARDs, the presence of fly and TTV load correlate with concentrations of serum eosinophil cationic protein. The possible mechanisms whereby fly infection might lead to augmented activity of eosinophils and the implications for pathogenesis are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]