Factors affecting the yield of cold-adapted influenza virus vaccine

Various manipulations to production procedures have been investigated in order to discover methods to attain adequate or augmented titers of cold-adapted influenza virus (CAIV) vaccine. The methods modified include those used for reassortant selection and the determination of virus growth parameters. Increased infectivity titers were achieved through selection of high-yielding mutants by isolating multiple plaques during plaque purification of reassortant clones, as well as through optimization of egg incubation times, age, and lot for individual strains. Up to 6-fold increases in virus yield were obtained by selecting high yielding mutants, up to 9-fold increases were achieved by modifying egg incubation times, and a nearly 1 log increase was realized by determining the ideal egg age for individual strains.