Amphotropic murine leukemia retrovirus is not an acute pathogen for primates.
The in vivo fate of amphotropic murine leukemia retrovirus was studied in five rhesus monkeys. Retrovirus infused intravenously into 3 normal animals and 1 immunosuppressed animal was cleared rapidly from the circulation and subsequent viremia has not been detected (mean follow-up of 27.4 months). A fifth monkey was immunosuppressed and transplanted with virus-producing autologous fibroblasts in addition to an intraperitoneal injection of virus. This animal was viremic for 2 days and its lymph node cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells were shown to be producing virus for up to 22 days post-inoculation, but subsequently has been negative after 17.0 months of analysis. In the 5 animals studied (combined mean follow-up of 25.7 months), clinical illness has not been identified at any time. Therefore, murine amphotropic retroviruses do not appear to pose an acute health risk.
Cornetta
K
K
Laboratory of Molecular Hematology, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Moen
R C
RC
Culver
K
K
Morgan
R A
RA
McLachlin
J R
JR
Sturm
S
S
Selegue
J
J
London
W
W
Blaese
R M
RM
Anderson
W F
WF
D000386:AIDS-Related Complex / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D015153:Blotting, Western; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000382:microbiology / Q000637:transplantation; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D009052:Leukemia Virus, Murine / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D014779:Virus Replication
D000956:Antigens, Viral