Host Growth and Its Relation to Influenzal Virus Infection

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Abstract
Since viruses generally do not reproduce in the absence of living cells, the virus particle must be partially dependent upon the metabolic activities of the host cell for its survival. Evidence of this dependence may be found in reports that undernourished animals, or animals deficient in certain accessory food factors, are more resistant to virus infection than are well-nourished animals (1–17). Many dietary constituents required for normal growth have been studied in relation to viral invasion (3–6, 8–15). From these studies it may be concluded that modification of normal biochemical function in the hosts cells may result in an altered rate of virus growth in that host's tissues. To test the effect of host growth upon virus growth, two experiments were done to observe: a) the effect of variations in protein intake with its alterations of host growth on virus susceptibility, and b) naturally occuring growth differences and their relation to virus susceptibility.