Abstract
Infection of vervet monkeys with the simian viruses SV5 and SVI7, and an equine rhinovirus, provide useful models of acute respiratory tract disease of man. In these experiments the monkeys were infected with varying concentrations of these viruses. It was found that an inoculum containing a high dose of virus produced a consistent and reproducible pattern of infection, but this was not always achieved when lower doses were used. There was good correlation between the isolation of virus from the respiratory secretions and the development of serum antibody. The selection of an optimum dose of infecting virus, when using these models for the evaluation of antiviral compounds, is discussed.
Quantitative studies of the respiratory secretions produced a flat type of virus growth curve, but the titres were moderately high. The possible value of using this elaboration of the basic test procedure is discussed.