Use of Roosters in the Antigenicity Testing of Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine

Summary A one-dose antigenicity test for Salk polio vaccine involving the use of young roosters has been developed. Groups of 12 roosters inoculated with trivalent lots of Salk vaccine showed an antibody response similar to that of 12 monkeys inoculated with the same vaccines. The reproducibility of the rooster antigenicity test has been established and experimental data indicate that variation in degree of antibody response was less in roosters than in monkeys to all three types of poliovirus. Improvement in the accuracy of the test may be obtained by comparing the potency of the vaccine under test with the potency of either a live or an inactive reference vaccine inoculated into 12 additional roosters.