[Sensitiveness of viruses fo gamma radiation (author's transl)]

The sensitiveness of viruses to gamma rays was compared using eight viruses suspended with low concentration in drinking water, and four viruses present in high concentrations in tissue culture medium. The results show that the following factors are responsible for the resistance of viruses to gamma rays: 1. type of virus: the specific radiation resistance varied considerably; in general, there was a closer correlation with the general resistance of the virus to chemico-physical influences than with the type of nucleic acid of the virus examined; 2. medium of suspension and state of aggregation: high protein content and lyophilisation increased the resistance to gamma rays widely; 3. virus concentration: the virus reduction by a factor of 10 in suspensions with high virus concentration needed a higher radiation dose compared with suspensions of low virus content. All the results demonstrate the kinetics of inactivation to be a 1st order reaction. The increase of temperature to 41 degrees C did not show any significant influence.