Abstract
The virus of lymphocytic choriomeningitis has been found to be infective for animals by a variety of routes 1 2 3 4 including, in addition to the more common ones, the intranasal, 2 intravaginal, intraurethral 5 and intrarectal. 6 Furthermore, it has been reported by Findlay and Stern 3 that, when this virus was fed to mice or applied to their lightly scarified skins, the mice did not exhibit apparent infection but the virus could be recovered from their spleens and kidneys. They also showed that when the virus was rubbed on the lightly scarified skins of 2 Rhesus monkeys, one showed a slight febrile reaction, the other no response. Recently, Shaughnessy and Milzer 7 demonstrated that the virus caused typical symptoms of the disease in guinea pigs when placed on their very lightly scarified skins.
The W. E. strain 8 of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus was employed in these studies. Its virulence was such that, when 0.25 cc of a 1% suspension of an infected guinea pig brain was injected intracerebrally into guinea pigs, they showed signs of infection within 48 hours and died 6 to 8 days after exposure. In these experiments the inoculum consisted of a 10% suspension of infected guinea pig brain in heart infusion broth.
The guinea pigs and mice used were obtained from healthy stocks and it was demonstrated that they were not carriers of nor immune to the virus. The animals were also examined and found to be free of ecto-parasites.
The guinea pigs were exposed by placing from 0.5 cc to 1.2 cc of the virus suspension on the normal skin of the lateral dorso-lumbar region. The hairs were spread apart by means of the tip of a glass Luer syringe.
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