Studies with a cold-recombinant A/Victoria/3/75 (H3N2) virus. II. Evaluation in adult volunteers.

A cold-recombinant influenza A virus, CR 22, derived from A/Ann Arbor/6/60 (H2N2) cold-adapted virus and A/Victoria/3/75 (H3N2) wild-type virus, was tested in adult volunteers. CR 22 induced only low-grade clinical reactions in volunteers who had low titers of serum antibodies. Virus could be reisolated from about one-third of the volunteers, but only at low titers. No revertant viruses were found, and there was no evidence for transmission of virus to unvaccinated volunteers housed in the close contact with the vaccinees. A high proportion of the volunteers seroconverted, and the mean titers of serum antibody after immunization suggest that a high degree of protection is induced by vaccination with liver CR 22 virus.