EXPERIMENTS ON THE SURVIVAL OF THE FEBRILE HERPETIC AND ALLIED VIRUSES IN VITRO

These studies fail to confirm the statements previously made that microorganisms of the class of the globoid bodies of poliomyelitis may be cultivated in the Smith-Noguchi medium from the so called virus of encephalitis lethargica. They show equally that the herpes virus does not multiply in this medium. The experiments indicate, moreover, that the medium is unfavorable to the survival of the virus, while ordinary broth under aerobic conditions is more favorable for maintaining the activity of both the encephalitic and the herpes viruses. Probably no multiplication of either takes place in the latter medium but merely a survival, and for a maximum period of 6 days in the broth itself, and 12 days in the fragment of brain tissue immersed in the broth. Finally, it has been shown that with a suitable technique the viruses can be passed from the brain of one rabbit to that of another through a long series without contamination with cocci or other common bacterial forms. Hence we regard all reports of the finding of ordinary bacteria in the brain of cases of epidemic or lethargic encephalitis as instances of mixed or secondary infection arising during life, or examples of postmortem invasion of the body, or of faulty technique at the autopsy.