Immunization of Rabbits with Inactive Vaccine Virus

Abstract

Abstract Views as to the possibility of inducing immunity with inactive virus are still divergent. In experiments carried out by one of us (Kligler, 1932) with fowl-pox virus, the results were entirely negative. The prevailing conception based on repeated negative results is that at best only a slight or transient immunity can be induced with inactive virus. A comprehensive critical review of the literature dealing with this aspect of the problem is given by Parker and Rivers (1936). The restudy of this problem was undertaken as a result of our findings with Rickettsiae (Kligler and Aschner, 1934). In a series of experiments in which relatively large amounts of infected brain emulsions inactivated in various ways were injected into guinea pigs, the results were consistently negative; as much as 3 grams of brain tissue failed to produce more than a slight and irregular increase in the resistance of the treated guinea pigs to an infection with active virus.