Studies on the pathogenesis of and propagation of enterovirus 71 in poliomyelitis-like disease in monkeys

Summary Poliomyelitis-like disease in monkeys infected with enterovirus 71 (E71) were studied to determine whether nerve cell damage is due primarily to virus multiplication in the neurons or secondary to the effects of virus multiplication in the supporting tissue of the central nervous system (CNS). Monkeys infected with E71 develop a disease with neuromuscular or muscular dysfunction and lesions of the CNS. E71 was recovered from the lumbar and cervical cord and from the cerebrum. Specific immunofluorescence was detected in the degenerating or necrotic nerve cells in the anterior grey horns of the lumbar and cervical cord, the cerebellum and cerebrum, although virus antigen was not found in the white matter. No specific immunofluorescence was found in the glial cells, vascular endothelial or mononuclear inflammatory cells. From the present results, it is suggested that nerve cell damage is due principally to virus multiplication in the neurons of the CNS in monkeys infected with E71.