Dual infection of Ixodes ricinus ticks with two viruses of the tick-borne encephalitis complex.
Ixodes ricinus female ticks were inoculated with Skalica (SK) virus (non-pathogenic for adult albino mice by subcutaneous route) and 14 days later they were challenged with strain 198 of Tick-borne Encephalitis (TBE) virus (highly pathogenic for adult albino mice by subcutaneous route). After additional 14 days of incubation, 42.9 to 65.0% of the adult (10-12 g) albino mice infested with these double infected ticks developed antibodies to TBE without signs of sickness (transmission of SK virus), while paralysis or death was registered in 35.0 to 57.1% of infested mice (transmission of strain 198) depending on the concentration of strain 198 used for inoculation of ticks. However, a low degree of interference to superinfection with strain 198 was observed, when the dissected tick salivary glands were examined by subcutaneous inoculation of adult albino mice (more than 90% of examined salivary glands contained strain 198 virus).
Weismann
P
P
Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Czechoslavakia.
Labuda
M
M
Kozuch
O
O
D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D004669:Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004675:Encephalitis, Tick-Borne / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000382:microbiology; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*