Titration of Influenza Virus in Chick Embryos

A study was made to establish the reproducibility of end points obtained in the titration of influenza viruses in chick embryos. Six tests were performed, each composed of five replicate titrations of a purified preparation of the PR8 strain of influenza virus. The data from these titrations were subjected to statistical analysis which revealed that the chances are 19 out of 20 that differences in end points of 0.37 and 0.62 logarithmic units are significant in titrations employing ten embryos and five embryos per dilution, respectively. Additional simultaneous titrations in embryos and in mice showed that chick embryos are sensitive to considerably smaller amounts of virus than are mice, and that the mouse titration is adversely affected by inactive virus under conditions which are without apparent influence on the embryo titration.