Viremia in Human Mumps Virus Infections

The isolation of mumps virus from the blood of a patient has been reported on but one occasion, in 1949. 1 The lack of subsequent confirmatory reports, then, leaves the question of viremia in mumps somewhat in doubt. The present paper reports three subsequent isolates from the sera of two patients. Materials and Methods Virus Isolation.— Serum and spinal fluid to be tested for the presence of virus were injected undiluted into the amniotic sac of 7-day-old embryonated eggs. Each egg received 0.2 ml. of inoculum. Eggs were incubated for six days at 37 C and then chilled overnight at 4 C. The eggs were then opened and the allantoic and amniotic fluids removed separately. The fluids from each egg were then tested for the presence of a hemagglutinin by addition of 0.5% chicken red blood cells. When no virus was obtained on primary passage, two blind passages were made with pooled amniotic fluids. If negative