Congenital Japanese B Encephalitis Infection of Swine

Abstract

A congenital disease of swine is reported which results in stillbirth or death during the neonatal period. The chief pathologic changes are those of a non-bacterial encephalitis. This disease showed a temporal relationship to epidemics and equine epizootics of Japanese B encephalitis. A virus identified as that of Japanese B encephalitis was recovered from the brain of 3 piglets which died 48-72 hrs. after birth. Congenital damage of the nervous system by an arthropod-borne encephalitis virus has thus been demonstrated in swine.