Immunofluorescence studies of disseminated Hantaan virus infection of suckling mice.

Hantaan virus, the etiological agent of Korean hemorrhagic fever, was inoculated intracerebrally or intraperitoneally into suckling mice, and the course of the infection was followed by infectivity titration and immunofluorescence studies. Mice became ill and were moribund by 13 to 14 days postinfection. In mice inoculated either intracerebrally or intraperitoneally, virus antigen was present in brain, heart, lungs, liver, and kidney. Less consistently, specific fluorescence was observed in spleen, pituitary gland, thymus, lymph nodes, adrenal, pancreas, salivary glands, trigeminal ganglia, adipose tissue, intestine, and muscle. In all of these tissues, the primary target of infection was the capillary endothelium. In mice inoculated intracerebrally, virus antigen was present mainly in choroid plexus, hippocampal nuclei, and meninges, but in mice inoculated intraperitoneally, central nervous system infection was marked by antigen accumulation in cortical nuclei and thalamus.