Salivary excretion of Coxsackie b-1 virus in rabbits.

Coxsackie B-1 virus was injected into the ear vein of albino doe rabbits. Saliva and blood samples were taken before the injection of virus and at specific times thereafter. Virus was recovered in the whole saliva when the blood titer was approximately 10(4) TCID(50) per 0.1 ml or greater. The virus could be detected in the saliva as early as 2 min after the initiation of the viremia. The recovered virus was shown to be the same as the injected virus by serological identification of the recovered virus with neutralizing antibody for Coxsackie B-1 virus. These results suggest that virus may be transmitted to other animals in the saliva of animals who are in the viremic phase of infection without infection of the oropharyngeal tissues.