Antigenic Pattern of Strains of Influenza A and B

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Abstract
The antigenic patterns of 21 strains of influenza A and 13 strains of influenza B (isolated at various intervals since 1933) were examined by the agglutination-inhibition technic using rooster antisera. The A viruses comprised a graded series in which precise subgroup-ing was not possible by the present method while the B strains fell into 3 subgroups. The recent outbreak of influenza among Eskimos in remote Victoria Island, Canada, in which the morbidity and mortality (100% and 20%, respectively) approached that occurring in the pandemic form of the disease, was apparently caused by 2 different viruses which resembled the well-studied PR8 and FM1 strains of influenza A. Strains of virus, antigenically similar to earlier prototypes, thus appeared after widely separated time intervals (up to 15 yrs.). This necessitates the selection of a group of strains for a polyvalent vaccine which possess broad immunogenic activity. Certain possible deficiencies in both the A and B components of the present formula vaccine are discussed. While the selection of influenza viruses for use in the vaccine cannot be based on in vitro tests alone, the agglutination-inhibition tests with chicken serum appears to provide a simple and effective means for rapid antigenic survey of a large number of strains.