Comparison of tube cultures of Madin Darby canine kidney cells with shell-vial cultures after low-speed centrifugation for influenza virus isolation.

The efficacy of isolation of influenza viruses was compared in two systems--conventional tube cultures of Madin Darby canine kidney cells, and shell-vial cultures after low-speed centrifugation. One hundred and fifty eight throat and nasal swabs were inoculated and cultures screened by hemagglutination on days 1, 2, 3 and 5 post-inoculation. Twenty-four shell-vial cultures (15.2%) and 6 tube cultures (3.8%) were positive for influenza virus type B, indicating that shell-vial cultures with low-speed centrifugation are superior to tube cultures for influenza virus type B isolation (p less than 0.005 by McNemar's test for analysis of matched pairs data).