Depression of Established Delayed Hypersensitivity by Mumps Virus

Abstract

Mumps infection in the guinea pig model has been shown to depress the expression of pre-existing delayed hypersensitivity. When peak skin reactivity to mumps developed, from the 14th to the 17th days, the reaction to PicGPA was diminished. This did not occur if the virus was inactivated before administration. The mechanism of the depression did not appear to be by permanent alteration of function of specifically sensitized cells, as PicGPA sensitivity was successfully transferred from the infected animals with depressed skin reactivity to normal recipients. Transfer to infected animals of a new specificity, BGG, was not as successful as transfer into controls. This suggests that a nonspecific inhibition has occurred of either the antigen recognition cells or of the nonspecific effector cells.