Infectious Diseases of Mice and Rats

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Some reports of SV infection in the literature include lesions that are not attributable to SV alone (Burek et al., 1977). Lesions such as suppurative bronchitis, pulmonary abscesses, and dense peribronchial and perivascular lymphoid cuffs are suggestive of M. pulmonis infection, possibly superimposed on SV infection. SV is a strong promoter of murine respiratory mycoplasmosis due to M. pulmonis in mice (Howard et al., 1978; Saito et al., 1981) and rats (Schoeb et al., 1985).

Diagnosis

The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the test of choice for routine serologic monitoring. It is 100 times more sensitive than the complement fixation (CF) test and 300 times more sensitive than the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test. Because of the high contagiousness of the virus, typically about 90% of animals in infected populations will be positive by the ELISA (Parker et al., 1978, 1979; Ertl et al., 1979; Parker, 1980). The ELISA successfully detects anti-SV antibody in infected athymic (nu/nu) mice (Iwai et al., 1984), compared to the CF test that is sometimes positive at low titer (Ward et al., 1976; Iwai et al., 1977), and the HI and neutralization tests that usually do not detect antibody to SV in infected nude mice (Iwai et al., 1977). A quantitative immunofluorescence test for detection of serum antibody to SV has been reported (Lucas et al., 1987).

In instances where natural SV infection is associated with clinical disease or gross lung lesions, other intercurrent infection(s), e.g., M. pulmonis, often have a contributory role. Definitive diagnosis of such disease states requires detection of each of the agents involved, demonstration of the characteristic lesions due to each agent, and exclusion of other agents and disease processes. An avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method has been used successfully for demonstrating SV antigen in histologic sections (Hall and Ward, 1984).

Isolation of SV may be achieved using BHK-21 or primary monkey kidney cell cultures, or 8 to 10 day embryonated hen's eggs inoculated into the amniotic or allantoic sac (Parker and Richter, 1982). The mouse antibody production (MAP) test may be used in testing transplantable tumors and other biologic materials for contamination by SV (Rowe et al., 1962).

Control

Exclusion of SV is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT in most institutions that receive rodents from outside sources. Ordinarily, exclusion requires very strict adherence to systematic measures for preventing entrance of the infection into an entire facility or institution. SV free subpopulations of rodents must be identified by regular health surveillance of a supplier, transported to the user facility in containers which prevent contamination

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