title: Experimental scrapie in white Swiss mice.
abstract: In order to confirm the clinical and histological diagnosis of scrapie and to determine the infectivity titer of the scrapie agent in the brain of a naturally infected Suffolk sheep, 123 white Swiss mice were inoculated intracerebrally. From about 13 to 20 months post-inoculation, 28 mice died, and 95 that were sick were killed. In the terminal stages of disease, the mice developed weakness, gradual emaciation, posterior ataxia, and occasionally alopecia. The average infection (83%) of mice affected with scrapie occurred in groups 1 to 4 inoculated with dilution 10(-1) to 10(-4) of scrapie sheep brain. Sixty-seven (54.5%) of the mice developed spongiform lesions and vacuolar degeneration of neurons. Similarities of scrapie with other subacute spongiform encephalopathies in animals and humans are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Agriculture Canada, Animal Diseases Research Institute, Nepean.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bundza
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay; D001921:Brain / Q000382:microbiology*; D051379:Mice; D012608:Scrapie / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D012756:Sheep