Latent herpes simplex virus in the central nervous system of rabbits and mice.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 induces a long-standing latent infection in the central nervous system of mice and rabbits. The infection was extablished in the brain stems of rabbits after corneal inoculation of the virus, and in the spinal cords of mice after rear footpad infection. In these animals, infectious virus could not be recovered by direct isolation from tissues; it was detected only after the tissues were maintained as organ cultures in vitro.