ABSTRACT
Studies on the susceptibility of adult BL6 nude (congenitally athymic, nu/nu) mice, their euthymic littermates (+/nu) and Swiss mice to Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus inoculated subcutaneously were carried out. The mice were observed over a period of 60 days p.i. for sickness and/or death, which was noticed only in nu/nu mice. However, the onset and the duration of sickness varied and no definite pattern was observed. Thirty four of 53 nu/nu, 28 of 42 +/nu and 30 of 52 Swiss mice bled during the first 5 days p.i. exhibited viraemia. Interestingly, only nu/nu mice had secondary viraemia during the period of sickness. The cause of sickness and death in nu/nu mice was confirmed by recovering the virus from the blood, the brain and other organs. Antibodies were detected in the sera of +/nu and Swiss mice from the 10th day p.i. onwards but not in nu/nu mice. These findings indicate the important role of functional T cells both in induction of active immunity and protection against JE virus infection in mice.
Subject(s)
Encephalitis Virus, Japanese/pathogenicity , Encephalitis, Japanese/immunology , Mice, Nude/microbiology , Animals , Antibodies, Viral/blood , Disease Models, Animal , Disease Susceptibility/immunology , Disease Susceptibility/veterinary , Encephalitis, Japanese/pathology , Injections, Subcutaneous , Leukocyte Count/veterinary , Mice/immunology , Mice/microbiology , Mice, Nude/immunology , Species SpecificityABSTRACT
Brain tissues from 38 patients with a clinical suspicion of encephalitis or encephalopathy were examined by two immunoenzymatic techniques for the detection of arboviral antigen. Group B arboviral antigen was identified in 23 of these tissues. This simple method could be used for the diagnosis of the causal agent of encephalitis.
