Cultivation of the Virus of the Common Cold in Tissue Medium

Abstract

In a previous report 1 we presented evidence of the cultivation of the virus of the common cold in tissue medium in vitro. A single culture was maintained for 15 generations representing duration of life outside the human body of 74 days.

We now report a second cultivation of the virus of the common cold by a technic similar to the one previously described. Naso pharyngeal washings were obtained from a patient within the first 24 hours of a typical acute cold. These were passed through a Seitz filter, the activity of the filtrate ascertained by the intranasal inoculation of apes, and it was planted without concentration in the medium previously described. In this series bouillon made from the special peptone of Dubos was used as diluent instead of Tyrode's solution. The culture was carried under vaseline seal for 17 generations. The total duration of life outside the human body was 73 days. The final dilution of the original material was 1-100 quadrillion.

The average time of transfer varied from 3 days to 6 days. The fourth and fifth generations were tested for activity on apes. No infection resulted. The 17th generation representing a dilution of the original material of 1-100 quadrillion was tested for activity on 3 human volunteers. The volunteers were rigidly quarantined under the supervision of an experienced nurse according to the technic previously described. Two volunteers, 3 days after isolation, and one 7 days after isolation received intranasally uninoculated culture medium prepared in the same manner as the medium used for cultivation of the virus and incubated for a similar period of time. Aside from very slight temporary irritation no symptoms of infection resulted from the control inoculations.