STUDIES ON EASTERN EQUINE ENCEPHALOMYELITIS : VI. FACILITATION OF INFECTION IN THE MOUSE.

50 per cent glycerine injected intraperitoneally, intramuscularly, or intravenously, greatly enhances the activity of equine encephalomyelitis virus injected intramuscularly, increasing its virulence up to 100-fold. The same effect is produced by very concentrated sodium chloride. The result appears due to dehydration of the nervous system, suddenly produced. Gradual withdrawal of body fluids, produced by depriving animals of drinking water, results in sharp concentration of the blood, equal to that produced by glycerine or salt. But such deprivation of water alone does not result in significant dehydration of the brain, nor does it have any effect on virus action. The facilitation effect is not produced by drastic procedures involving shifts of electrolytes without loss of total water from the brain. Glycerine has no facilitating action when the virus is administered intranasally or intraocularly, suggesting a fundamental difference in pathogenesis between these routes and the intramuscular.