Wesselsbron disease : virological and serological studies in experimentally infected sheep and goats

Abstract

Adult sheep and goats and new-born lambs and kids were experimentally infected with a Wesselsbron disease virus. The viraemia in lambs commenced approximately 27 h after infection and lasted on the average for 50 h. A febrile reaction, which was mostly biphasic, commenced several hours after the viraemia and outlasted it by 50 h. The viraemia in adult animals began about 50 h after infection and lasted for 30 h. The fever usually commenced several hours after the viraemia and, as in 3 cases out of 4 in lambs, it outlasted the viraemia by at least 30 h. The virus could be reisolated in mice from every tissue examined in lambs,although it has previously been shown that pathological lesions are restricted to the liver and lymphatic tissues.