Interspecies transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to Syrian hamsters with reference to clinical syndromes and strains of agent.

Abstract

Experimental Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was serially transmitted from guinea pigs to Syrian hamsters with 100% incidence, morbidity and mortality. All animals developed a s.c. spongiform virus encephalopathy with neuronal destruction and concomitant astrocytic changes. In the first passage 3 different clinical syndromes were recorded, each with widely variant incubation times; these results suggested there may be different strains of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob agent, some of which may be partially separated when the agent is passaged from 1 species to another. Accumulations of neurofilaments in neuronal perikarya and processes and increased lipofuscin were suggestive of changes seen in senility and aging.