Reactivation of Overneutralized Influenza Virus in Chicken Embryos

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Abstract
Introduction. What happens to the influenza virus during interepidemic periods has been the source of considerable speculation. As is the case with some other infections, the possibility of human carriers also has been considered. The unequivocal demonstration of human carriers of the influenza virus, however, as yet awaits presentation. McKee and Hale (1), tentatively accepted the theory that the detection of influenza carriers may be missed because the virus in nose and troat washings is overneutralized by antibody in the secretions as the virus is liberated from the parasitized cells. They employed concentrated, heat-inactivated, homologous virus as the agent of reactivation and were able to reactivate influenza virus that was overneutralized as much as five hundred times. The criterion of neutrality was a mixture of virus and its specific antibody which could not be reactivated by dilution, papain-digestion, or serial mouse passage.

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