Abstract
Since 1937, when Theiler 1 first described spontaneous encephalomyelitis of albino mice (Theiler's disease; “mouse poliomyelitis”) and the virus causing it, two major developments have given this disease renewed importance because they confirm the impression that one is dealing here with an infection more closely related to human poliomyelitis than is any other known disease. In the first place, the finding by Olitsky 2 and by Theiler and Gard 3 of Theiler's virus in the intestinal contents and feces not only of mice showing the signs of the spontaneous or experimental malady but also of normal, young adult or mature animals, recalls similar results obtained in studies on human poliomyelitis. 4 5 Again another epidemiological feature is shown commonly by the two diseases, i. e., the analogous incidence of paralytic cases of one in more than 5000.
The second recent development under consideration concerns the successful transmission by Armstrong 6 of one strain (Lansing) of human poliomyelitic virus to the white mouse. This notable achievement enables one now to carry the comparison of the 2 diseases further than it was heretofore possible. The clinical resemblance of human and experimental (monkey) poliomyelitis on one side and mouse-encephalomyelitis on the other has been fully stressed before. 1 2 3 In the mouse, the two maladies are clinically indistinguishable.
In view of the striking similarities noted in many properties of the two diseases, it was thought desirable to study in detail the histopathology of spontaneous and experimental Theiler's disease (a) in the hope that clues might be yielded which in turn could be applied to problems in the pathogenesis of human poliomyelitis and (b) for the purpose, particularly, of comparing in the same host the pathology of the Lansing strain of poliomyelitis and of Theiler's disease.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.