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A -- MOLECULAR ANALYSES OF AUTOPSY SPECIMENS FROM SIDS AND CONTROL INFANTS TO ASCERTAIN MIDDLE EAR INFECTION SOL NIH-DC-95-13 POC Jonathan Ferguson, Contract Specialist, (301) 496-4487. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, intends to conduct a comparative study of molecular analyses of autopsy specimens from children who were determined to have died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and a control group of children who died from other causes. The purposes of the study is to determine if there are certain infectious agents, both viral (influenza, parainfluenza, respiratory syncytial, rhino, and adenovirus) and bacterial (hemophilus influenzae, streptococus pneumoniae, and moraxella catarrhalis), that are more frequently recovered from children who die from SIDS than from other causes. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction assays will be employed to look for bacterial and viral upper respiratory tract pathogens in nasopharyngeal and middle-ear specimens collected at autopsy. A minimum of four specimens (mucopithelial or mucoperiosteal from both right and left middle ears, the anterior aspect of the nasal cavity, the posterior aspect of the nasopharynx, and eustachian tube and brain stem) shall be collected from each autopsied patient for molecular microbiological analyses. A three year cost reimbursement type contract is anticipated. The solicitation is scheduled to be issued on or about September 1, 1995. A copy of the solicitation may be obtained by sending a written request referencing the above RFP number. Only one RFP shall be sent to each requesting organization. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be considered by the Government. (0193)

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