Different susceptibilities of skin to type 1 and type 2 herpes simplex viruses in newborn rabbits

Abstract

Skin infections with type 1 herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) were compared with skin infections with type 2 virus (HSV-2). Five strains each of HSV-1 and HSV-2 were tested by injecting 103 50% tissue culture infective doses of each strain subcutaneously into 1-day-old New Zealand white rabbits. All five strains of HSV-2 produced severe skin lesions that resulted in wide dissemination of the infection to many organs, paralysis of the hind legs, and finally death. The virus could be isolated frequently from skin lesions, from various organs (liver, lungs, adrenal glands, brain, and eyes), and from circulating leukocytes and plasma. In contrast, all five strains of HSV-1 failed to produce significant skin lesions or dissemination of virus, only half of the skin lesions yielded HSV, and no virus could be isolated from the blood. These results indicate that HSV-1 does not grow well in the skin of newborn rabbits and fails to disseminate, whereas HSV-2 is dermatotropic and disseminates readily to many organs by hematogenous routes. Ever since Batignani (2) reported the first case of neonatal infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV) in 1934, neonatal HSV infection has been recognized with increasing frequency. Over 90% of isolates recovered from infections of newborns (usually derived from infected mothers) are type 2 HSV (HSV-2) (16). When neonates acquire herpes infection from the maternal genital tract, either in utero after its ascent from the cervix or during the course of delivery, the skin, eye, and ororespiratory ori

Leptomeningitis and polycaryocyte formation in the CNS of rats inoculated subcutaneously with Herpes simplex virus

“…Oh and Minasi inoculated newborn rabbits subcutaneously with either HSVl or HSV2 and reported that severe skin lesions occurred only in the HSV*-inoculated animals. Similarly, visceral, CNS, and ocular lesions were more common with HSVz than with HSVi-infected animals (Oh and Minasi, 1980). On the other hand, in our study, extensive lesions were observed in the CNS in both HSV1-and HSV2infected suckling rats, and lesions in the eye and viscera were sparse to absent.…”