The effects of pharmacological and lentivirus-induced immune suppression on orbivirus pathogenesis: assessment of virus burden in blood monocytes and tissues by reverse transcription-in situ PCR.

ABSTRACT: We investigated the effects of pharmacological and lentivirus-induced immunosuppression on bluetongue virus (BTV) pathogenesis as a mechanism for virus persistence and induction of clinical disease. Immunologically normal and immunosuppressed sheep were infected subcutaneously with BTV serotype 3 (BTV-3), a foreign isolate with unknown pathogenicity in North American livestock, and with North American serotype 11 (BTV-11). Erythrocyte-associated BTV RNA was detected earlier and at greater concentrations in sheep treated with immunosuppressive drugs. Similarly, viral RNA and infectious virus were detected in blood monocytes earlier and at higher frequency in immunosuppressed animals: as many as 1 in 970 monocytes revealed BTV RNA at peak viremia, compared to <1 in 10(5) monocytes from immun

SUBMITTER: Brodie SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC110219 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature