Protection of mice against vaccinia virus by bacterial infection and sustained stimulation with specific bacterial antigens.

In these experiments, mice which have a strong delayed-type hypersensitivity to mycobacteria were found, when elicited with old tuberculin, to be more resistant to intravenous vaccinia virus challenge than controls. This was manifest as protection from killing when large amounts of virus were injected, or as significantly less tail swelling and damage as well as lower titers of infectious virus when a lesser inoculum was used. Preliminary experiments indicate that animals sensitized with Staphylococcus aureus and elicited with phage lysate of staphylococcus are also more resistant to vaccinia infection.