THE QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF INFLUENZA VIRUS AND ANTIBODIES BY MEANS OF RED CELL AGGLUTINATION

1. The agglutination titer for chicken red cells of freshly prepared or carefully stored suspensions of PR8 influenza virus, that is to say virus of maximum pathogenicity, was found to be proportional to the mouse lethal titer of the same preparations. 2. The agglutination titer of infected allantoic fluid procured in a standard way is relatively constant, regardless of the influenza strain used and its pathogenicity for mice. 3. Virus preparations inactivated by heat or storage may retain their agglutinating power. 4. Certain animal sera contain a partially heat-labile factor which, in low dilution, inhibits the agglutination of chicken red cells by influenza A and influenza B viruses. 5. The agglutination inhibition test, using ferret and human sera, gives qualitative data regarding influenza antibodies which are similar to the information obtained on the same sera by means of the virus neutralization test. 6. There is a definite relationship between the agglutination inhibition titer and the virus neutralization titer of a serum. On a logarithmic scale of both variables, this relationship is essentially linear within the range investigated. 7. The agglutination inhibition titer of immune ferret serum is inversely proportional to the amount of virus used in the test.