title: Persistent rat parvovirus infection in individually housed rats.
abstract: The duration of infection with rat virus (RV), an autonomous rodent parvovirus, was examined at multiple intervals over 6 months in rats inoculated by the oronasal route at 2 days of age or 4 weeks of age and individually housed after weaning to prevent cross-infection. Infectious virus was recovered by explant culture from 32 of 80 rats inoculated as pups and was detected as late as 6 months after inoculation. Rats inoculated as juveniles developed acute infection, but virus was not detected beyond 7 weeks after inoculation. Tissues from rats in both age groups were surveyed for RV DNA by Southern blotting using a double-stranded DNA probe made from a 1700 bp cloned fragment of RV spanning map units 0.19-0.52. Band patterns representative of acute infection (juvenile rats) were consistent with the replicating form of RV DNA, whereas patterns representative of persistent infection (rats inoculated as pups) were suggestive of defective or non-productive viral replication.
authors.affiliation: Section of Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors.forename: R O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Jacoby
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: F X
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Paturzo
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Gaertner
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Brandsma
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000830:Animals, Laboratory; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA; D015342:DNA Probes; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006799:Housing, Animal; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D010321:Parvoviridae / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D004279:DNA, Viral; D004247:DNA