Infección intracerebral de ratones atímicos con una cepa atenuada de virus Junín. / [Intracerebral infection of athymic mice with an attenuated strain of Junín virus]

ABSTRACT

Infection of newborn immunocompetent (nu/+) mice with the XJ prototype strain of Junin virus, etiological agent of Argentine Hemorrhagic Fever, produces a lethal meningo-encephalitis due to cellular immune response. The same strain inoculated into athymic (nu/nu) mice produces an asymptomatic persistent infection. The purpose of this work was to determine the nu/nu mice response when infected with XJCl3, an attenuated Junin virus strain, since this strain behaves differently to the pathogenic prototype in various experimental hosts and humans. Fifty five suckling nu/nu mice and 45 nu/+ were inoculated intracerebrally with 10(3) PFU of the XJCl3 strain. Twenty nu/nu and 20 nu/+ were kept as uninoculated controls. Similar percentages of mortality were recorded for nu/nu and nu/+ infected animals (86 and 87