Studies of the Complement-Fixation Reaction in Virus Systems

[摘要] Studies of the complement-fixing capacity of individual and pooled human sera with influenza A and B antigens have been made by the quantitative technic developed in this laboratory; the relationships between the various reagents have been shown to be similar to those previously demonstrated with other antigen-antibody systems.In local outbreaks of acute upper respiratory infection occurring in December 1945, serologic evidence of the presence of influenza B virus was obtained by both the complement-fixation and hemagglutination technics. The relative increase in the complement-fixing capacity of convalescent sera was definitely greater than the rise in hemagglutination titer.For purposes of determining influenza antibody levels in the population of New York State, five series of serum pools were collected between June 1945 and September 1946. Pools collected in January–February 1946 showed an increase in the incidence of high complement-fixing titers with influenza B antigen over that in the first series, July–August 1945, and in the second, collected in December 1945. The percentage of high influenza A complement-fixing titers was definitely greater in a series assembled in May–June 1946 than in the series collected in the early winter or late summer of the same year. These findings suggest that during the winter of 1945–1946 both influenza A and B had been present in New York State. These fluctuations in the level of influenza A and B antibody titers were less readily demonstrable by the hemagglutination-inhibition test.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）