PURE CULTIVATION IN VIVO OF VACCINE VIRUS FREE FROM BACTERIA

Vaccine virus freed from all associated bacteria by means of suitable disinfecting agents can be propagated in a pure state in the testicles of rabbits and bulls. The virus cultivated in this manner is not only devoid of all bacteria, but appears capable of indefinite transfer from one animal to another. Sixty passages in rabbits of a pure strain have been made within one year. Several transfers from testicle to testicle are required to bring about accurate adaptation of the virus to the testicular parenchyma, so that continued propagation in this way can be certainly secured. During the first transfers from testicle to testicle the activity of the virus may be less than the original skin specimen from which the pure strain was derived; but as the transfers proceed the activity rises until, when the adaptation is complete, the activity of the testicular equals that of the skin strain. The multiplication of the virus within the testicle is maximum on the fourth or fifth day after inoculation; the quantity of virus remains about stationary until the eighth day, when diminution begins. At the expiration of five weeks no more virus could be detected in the testicle. The vaccinal processes in the skin, cornea, and testicle of rabbits are practically identical whether the virus employed for the inoculation has been the original skin strain or the pure testicular strain; and the skin lesions produced in the calf with the two strains are also identical. In conformity with the finding mentioned in the last paragraph it has been found that human beings react to the pure testicular strain of vaccine virus in an entirely typical manner. In the case both of original vaccination and revaccination the vaccinal effects cannot be distinguished from those arising from uncomplicated skin virus. Pure strains of testicular virus are readily produced, and once secured they may be propagated in a pure state by the method described in rabbits or bulls without difficulty and with economy. The pure strains thus obtained should supply an ideal form of virus for employment in the vaccination of human beings.