ANALYSIS OF SERUM POOLING SCHEMES FOR IDENTIFICATION OF LARGE NUMBERS OF VIRUSES1

Abstract

Kenny, G. E., M. K. Cooney and D. J. Thompson (Univ. of Washington Medical School, Seattle, Wash. 98105). Analysis of serum pooling schemes for identification of large numbers of viruses. Amer. J. Epid., 1970, 97: 439–445.—-Mathematical strategies are presented for identification of large numbers of viruses by combining specific antisera into pools. Both dimensional and combinatorial schemes were studied. The most efficient and feasible scheme for identification of 50–100 viruses was a combinatorial scheme employing combinations of things taken 1 and 2 at a time. In such a pooling scheme, 55 viruses could be identified by 10 pools of 10 antisera each, whereas 10 pools of 5 antisera each would only identify 25 viruses in a two dimensional (intersecting) scheme. Formulae and graphs were presented which related for each scheme the number of viruses identified per pool to the maximum number of antisera which can be accommodated in any one pool. The large number and consequent difficulties in identifying the 55+ viruses in the rhinovirus group were the occasion for this investigation. Thus far, the 1 and 2 at a time combinatorial system has been successfully applied to 21 rhinovirus serotypes.