Efficient isolation of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis virus from patient brains by reference to magnetic resonance and computed tomographic images.

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis virus has been isolated with difficulty from brains of infected patients. More strains are needed for the study of the pathogenesis of this virus. To make the isolation more efficient, we selected portions to be examined from the brains of three patients with reference to findings of repeated magnetic resonance and computed tomographic imaging. Three cell lines susceptible to measles virus field strains were used. In all three cases viruses were isolated most effectively from recent lesions and with Vero cells. Our results suggested that these imaging methods and Vero cells could be used for improvement in the efficiency of isolation of this virus from patient brains.