Ausschuss für Hygiene

Host species:

• mouse, rat, hamster, guinea pig, (rabbit)

Organotropism:

• respiratory tract

Clinical disease:

• asymptomatic in euthymic animals (Smith, et al., 1984)
• chronic pneumonia and death in athymic (nude) mice (Richter, et al., 1988) (Weir, et al., 1988)

Pathology:

• mild necrotizing rhinitis, necrotizing bronchiolitis and nonsuppurative interstitial pneumonia

Morbidity and mortality:

• morbidity: from 20% (in mice) to 50% (in rats and hamsters)
• mortality: none, except in immunodefecient mice

Interference with research:

Physiology

• increases the suseptibility to diabetes induction by streptozotocin in BALB/cByJ males mice (Leiter, et al., 1988)
• causes significant decreases in body weights of F344/NCr rats but not of B6C3F1 mice (Rao, et al., 1989a+b)

Pathology

• produces an interstitial pneumonia with virus demonstrated in the bronchial epithelium but also in the alveolar walls and alveolar macrophages in germ-free athymic and euthymic mice (Carthew and Sparrow, 1980a+b)
• causes hydrocephalus after intracerebral inoculation of neonatal mice (Lagace-Simard, et al., 1980)

Oncology

• lowers the prevalence of leukemia in male F344/NCr rats (Rao, et al., 1989)

References:

Carthew, P., and S. Sparrow. 1980a. A comparison in germ-free mice of the pathogenesis of Sendai virus and mouse pneumonia virus infections. J. Pathol. 130:153-158.

Carthew, P., and S. Sparrow. 1980b. Persistence of pneumonia virus of mice and Sendai virus in germ-free (nu/nu) mice. Br. J. Exp. Pathol. 61:172-175.

Lagace-Simard, J., J. P. Descoteaux, and G. Lussier. 1980. Experimental pneumovirus infections: 1. Hydrocephalus of mice due to infection with pneumonia virus of mice (PVM). Am. J. Pathol. 101:31-40.

Leiter, E. H., P. H. Le, M. Prochazka, S. M. Worthen, and K. Huppi. 1988. Genetic and environmental control of diabetes induction by multi-dose streptozotocin in two BALB/c substrains. Diab. Res. 9:5-10.

Rao, G. N., J. K. Haseman, and J. Edmondson. 1989a. Influence of viral infections on body weight, survival, and tumor prevalence in Fischer 344/NCr rats on two-year studies. Lab. Anim. Sci. 39:389-393.

Rao, G. N., W. W. Piegorsch, D. D. Crawford, J. Edmondson, and J. K. Haseman. 1989b. Influence of viral infections on body weight, survival, and tumor prevalence of B6C3F1 (C57BL/6N x C3H/HeN) mice in carcinogenicity studies. Fund. Appl. Toxicol. 13:156-164.

Richter, C. B., J. E. Thigpen, C. S. Richter, and J. M. Mackenzie, Jr. 1988. Fatal pneumonia with terminal emaciation in nude mice caused by pneumonia virus of mice. Lab. Anim. Sci. 38:255-261.

Smith, A. L., V. A. Carrano, and D. G. Brownstein. 1984. Response of weanling random-bred mice to infection with pneumonia virus of mice (PVM). Lab. Anim. Sci. 34:35-37.

Weir, E. C., D. G. Brownstein, A. L. Smith, and E. A. Johnson. 1988. Respiratory disease and wasting in athymic mice infected with pneumonia virus of mice. Lab. Anim. Sci. 38:133-137.