Experimental transmission of influenza virus infection in mice. IV. Relationship of transmissibility of different strains of virus and recovery of airborne virus in the environment of infector mice.

A mouse-adapted Jap. 305 strain of influenza A(2) virus was found to be much more readily transmitted from one mouse to another than the NWS strain of influenza A(0) virus although the two viruses were equally pathogenic for mice as judged by pulmonary virus titers and lung lesions. The survival of artificially created aerosols of virus and the quantity of airborne virus required to initiate infection in mice were identical for the two viruses. The difference in transmissibility was associated with the recovery of infectious airborne virus in the environment of mice infected with the Jap. 305 strain during the period of their maximum infectiousness, but not in the environment of mice infected with the NWS strain.