Effect of Host Age on Experimental K Virus Infection in Mice

Mice were inoculated by the oral route with K virus at 4, 8, 12, and 23 days and at 4 months of age. The effect of host age on the pathogenesis of infection was studied by immunofluorescence, virus assay, and histopathology. K virus produced a systemic infection in all animals, although the infection because progressively more limited as animals matured. In mice inoculated at 4 days of age, K virus infection resulted in a fatal interstitial pneumonia identical to that seen in newborn animals and was characterized by the presence of virus and viral antigen in pulmonary and extrapulmonary vascular endothelia, reticuloendothelial organs, and brains. In older animals, K virus infection was clinically inapparent; organ involvement was similar in distribution to that seen in fatally infected suckling ice, but cells exhibiting specific viral fluorescence were fewer in number and viral titers were lower. Although animals surviving K virus infection developed high titers of hemagglutination inhibition antibody to the virus, positive cells and infectious virus could still be detected in intestines 2 months after inoculation. In animals inoculated at 8 and 12 days of age, in which K virus produced an extensive initial infection, virus could also be detected 56 days after inoculation in lungs, livers, spleens, and brains. The present study indicates that murine K virus produces a systemic infection throughout the life of its host and that the maturation of host defenses and the development of specific humoral immunity, although they limit dissemination of virus during acute infection, may not eliminate viral persistence in intestines or other organs once infection has occurred.