Several plaque tests for influenza viruses have been described in the past (Granoff, 1955; Ledinko, 1955; Gotlieb & Hirst, 1956; Henry & Youngner, 1957; Wright & Sagik, 1958; Zimmermann & Schäfer, 1959; Choppin, 1962; Lehmann-Grube, 1963; Suguira & Kilbourne, 1965). For various reasons none of these tests has found general acceptance as a routine procedure. Using chicken kidney cells, a plaque test was developed for virus n, an influenza A virus isolated from chicken (Babiker & Rott, 1968). Subsequently we used this system for other influenza viruses.
The viruses tested were type A, strain pr8, type A1, strain fm1, type A2, strain singapore/1957 and type B, strain lee. These strains were routinely propagated in chick embryos. The preparation of monolayers of kidney cells from 5- to 6-day-old chickens and the composition of the growth medium were described by Babiker & Rott (1968).
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