Transmission and activation of cytomegalovirus with blood transfusion: a mouse model.

A mouse model that mimics many features of human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections associated with transfusion and perfusion is described. The concept of antigenic activation of CMV was tested by infusion of blood from latently infected mice, which were found to be virus-negative by tissue culture asssay, into uninfected allogeneic and isogenic hosts. After a latent period, virus was detectable invariably in allogeneic and only rarely in isogenic recipients. Transfusions from uninfected donors into latently infected mice activated CMV in heterologous and homologous recipients. These observations should assist in definition of relevant pathogenetic principles and may explain the failure to recover CMV from healthy human blood donors in spite of predictions of a carrier state based on epidemiologic observations.