Influenza infection in the infant mouse.

A nonlethal influenza infection [A/PC/1/73 (H3N2)] was given to infant mice to determine (1) the pathology of tracheal epithelium and lung, (2) the time course of viral shedding from the nose and lung, and (3) the subsequent development of protective immunity during adulthood. Both desquamation of the tracheal epithelium and lung pathology similar to that described in adults after influenza infection were observed in the infant. Animals infected at 3 days of age show virus shedding in 12 of 13 infant mice that persists for at least 2 days longer than in the adult. This longer duration of influenza infection did not result from either malnutrition or from intralitter transmission of virus. Recovery from virus shedding in both the upper and lower airway occurred in the absence of detectable serum antibody in six of seven mice. Infants that recover from infection, when rechallenged during adulthood, manifest complete protection in 11 of 13 mice after nonlethal challenge and no mortality after lethal challenge.