Use of Saturated Sodium Chloride Solution for Preservation of Viruses

There are very few convenient methods for the preservation of viruses. The use of disinfectants is not permissible because of their deleterious effect upon viruses, while the commonly employed glycerol exerts only a feeble antiseptic action and, therefore, cannot be relied upon when freedom from bacterial contamination is important. The preservation of viruses through the process of drying in vacuo at low temperatures is an excellent method but it has the drawback of being somewhat cumbersome.

It has been shown by Ginsburg and Kalinin, 1 Sonnenschein, 2 and others, that 10% solution of sodium chloride is effective in preserving complement for about 4 weeks. This action of sodium chloride upon complement, a substance of known instability, suggested to us that this salt may be a good agent for the preservation of viruses.

We found that saturation of guinea pig complement with sodium chloride preserves it for at least one month, and that various bacteria of the Salmonella group, pneumococcus, meningococcus, gonococcus, Streptococcus hemolyticus and viridans, Staphylococcus aureus, B. influenzae and B. diphtheriae are killed in from a few days' to one month's time when kept in saturated solution of sodium chloride.