Rat Virus (RV) Infections of Pregnant, Fetal and Newborn Rats.

Abstract

Summary RV was found to proliferate in pregnant but not in non-pregnant rats following intravenous inoculation early in pregnancy. There was no indication that this virus is able to cross the placenta. It was, however, able to proliferate there and also in fetuses, if these were inoculated directly, late in gestation. Directly inoculated fetuses surviving birth developed illness characteristic of RV-infections in the suckling period. Rats inoculated at birth might develop an acute disease characterized by a distended intestinal tract and die within 8 to 12 days or survive 40 or more days, dwarfs in size and with deformed teeth. One individual developed an extensive hydrocephalus. Additional findings were the recovery of RV in relatively high titers from lung, intestine, and urine and the fact that sucklings inoculated directly in utero might develop RV-infection or disease, even though the mother was RV-immune.