LATENT VIRAL INFECTION OF CELLS IN TISSUE CULTURE

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Abstract
Chick embryo tissues maintained for from 11 to 28 days in Hanks''s balanced salt solution lost their capacity to support the multiplication of psittacosis virus. The virus infected such cells, as active multiplication of the virus occurred on addition of beef embryo extract in this nutritionally poor medium at any period up to 28 days of cultivation in balanced salt solution. The virus remained in a state of latency for as long as 15 days in these starved cells in a non-infectious phase. Results obtained in this in vitro model system for investigation of latent infections of cells with psittacosis virus suggest cell nutrition and an alteration in immunological defenses of the host may prove an important factor in activation of latent viral infections.