STUDIES ON INFECTIOUS MONONUCLEOSIS

Abstract

Expts. were conducted to determine the presence of a specific virus in infectious mononucleosis. The materials studied for transmission were blood, gargle washings, and excised lymph nodes, and the animals employed consisted mainly of rabbits, with a certain number of monkeys (Macaca rhesus) and the smaller animals. Although changes in the peripheral blood such as leukocytosis, lymphocytosis and monocytosis were observed with surprising regularity, the occurrence of abnormal white cells was negligible and their presence was only transient. The presence of hetero-phile antibody accompanying the inoculations was similarly irregular and of low frequency as well as titre. Attempts to transmit infectious mononucleosis to man were unsuccessful. Two subjects gargled with the throat washings of 1 patient, and 2 others permitted the intramusc. inj. of a saline extract of cervical lymph nodes removed from patients during the fibrile period of the disease. One of the latter subjects also sprayed his nasopharynx with a portion of the saline extract. In no instance did hematologic changes result, which indicated that transmission had occurred.