Transmissible mink encephalopathy: infectivity of corneal epithelium.
Corneal epithelium from hamsters dying of transmissible mink encephalopathy contained a virus titer of 10-4.8 times the 50 percent lethal dose (10-4.8 LD50) per 0.05 milliliter when assayed as a cell suspension derived directly from the infected animal. After one passage in tissue culture, an equivalent concentration of cells contained only 10-0.8 LD50 per 0.05 milliliter.. It is concluded that corneal tissues are infectious; the infectivity may be mainly associated with free nerve endings. However, the most important immediate inference is that corneas from human beings affected with Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease are likely to be lethal if transplanted to healthy recipients.
D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000382:microbiology*; D016039:Corneal Transplantation; D007562:Creutzfeldt-Jakob Syndrome / Q000635:transmission*; D006224:Cricetinae; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D008907:Mink; D012897:Slow Virus Diseases / Q000635:transmission*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D014779:Virus Replication; D014713:Viruses, Unclassified / Q000254:growth & development