Murine hepatitis virus JHM variants isolated from Wistar Furth rats with viral-induced neurological disease.

Murine Hepatitis Virus (MHV) can produce neurological disease in murine species.(1) Intracerebral (ic) inoculation of 2-day old Wistar Furth rats with the JHM virus (JHMV) strain of MHV generally produces an acute encephalitis which kill the rats within one week of inoculation. (2,3) Grey matter lesions generally predominate in the central nervous system (CNS) of these rats. Wistar Furth rats which are inoculated at 10 days of age with JHMV generally develop a chronic demyelinating disease characterized by hind leg paralysis or paresis. (2,3,4) These symptoms generally do not develop until 2–4 weeks post inoculation.(2,4) The rats that live for 3 weeks post inoculation or longer generally have predominately white matter lesions. (2,3,4)