Vaccinia Hæmagglutinin

Abstract

WORK the hæmagglutinin of vaccinia virus was initiated by an observation by Burnet in October 1941 that a chorioallantoic membrane emulsion agglutinated fowl cells to a low titre. This phenomenon was then studied by Nagler^1,2, who was responsible for the general development of the technique of dealing with the reaction. He found that not all fowls provide cells susceptible to agglutination. Roughly 50 per cent of fowls give fully agglutinable cells, another 30 per cent show varying degrees of agglutinability, whereas 10–20 per cent give cells which are quite inagglutinable. All embryonic cells are wholly inagglutinable, the character appearing in the appropriate proportion of chicks two to four weeks after hatching. Kagler showed, too, that calf lymph, despite an equally high virus content, was ineffective as an agglutinating agent.