Coronavirus infects and causes demyelination in primate central nervous system.

Two species of primates, Owl and African green monkeys, were inoculated intracerebrally with either the neurotropic mouse hepatitis virus JHM or the putative multiple sclerosis brain coronavirus isolate SD. These viruses caused an acute to subacute panencephalitis and/or demyelination in the infected animals. The course of pathogenesis and sites of detected viral RNA and antigen was dependent both on animal species and virus strain but the results clearly showed that these viruses replicated and disseminated in the central nervous system (CNS) of these primates. This study suggests that human CNS may be susceptible to coronavirus infection.