[Survival of rabies virus under external conditions]

The survival of the street rabies virus in a 10% suspension, prepared from the salivary gland of a naturally infected fox, was studied under various conditions. A bioassay and titration on mice were used for the identification of the virus in different intervals. The heat inactivation of the virus in a suspension kept in a test tube at the temperatures of 20 degrees C and 37 degrees C was performed in two stages. The rapid reduction of the titre within 24 hours was followed by a slower decrease, reaching total inactivation after 96 hours at both temperatures. When the virus was tested by means of the contamination of various substrates (glass, metal sheet, plant leaf) with 0.1 ml of infection suspension in a thin layer, the longest survival of the virus was recorded at the temperature of 5 degrees C--144 hours. At the temperature of 20 to 21 degrees C the virus kept its activity on the glass and plant leaf for 24 hours and on the metal sheet for 48 hours although the applied drops looked like having dried. The temperature of 30 degrees C combined with intensive sunshine devitalized the virus within 1.5 hours, whereas without sunshine the virus still remained active, at the temperature of 30 degrees C, after 20 hours.