THE TRANSMISSION OF THE VIRUS OF LYMPHOCYTIC CHORIOMENINGITIS BY TRICHINELLA SPIRALIS

In experiments in which guinea pigs were infected concurrently with the virus of lymphocytic choriomeningitis and the parasitic nematode, Trichinella spiralis, proof was obtained that trichinella larvae, after maturation in the muscles, had acquired the virus and were capable of transmitting it to new susceptible hosts. Transmission resulted both when living larvae were fed to normal guinea pigs and when triturated dead larvae were injected subcutaneously. Control experiments and other tests made plain that transmission of the virus was not due to mere adherence of it to the outer surface of the larvae but that these actually harbored it. The significance of these experiments in relation to natural transmission of the virus of lymphocytic choriomeningitis remains to be determined.