Pericarditis and myocarditis in germfr and colostrum-deprived pigs experimentally infected with a porcine polioencephalomyelitis virus.

Abstract

In the study of porcine polioencephalomyelitis a strain of virus was encountered which consistently produced pericarditis in addition to polioencephalomyelitis. No other porcine enteroviruses have been associated specifically with pericarditis, although the occasional occurrence of myocarditis has been reported in association with Teschen disease [1-3] and with another porcine enteroviral infection [4]. Several human enteroviruses including Coxsackie and poliomyelitis viruses have been associated with pericarditis and myocarditis in man [5-8]. The significance of this aspect of enteroviral infection in man is indicated by epidemics of myocarditis in infants [9] and the occasionally resulting constrictive pericarditis [10]. With some human enteroviral strains, myocarditis (Coxsackie B3) was produced experimentally in mice [11], and endocarditis (Coxsackie B4) was produced in mice [12] and in monkeys [13]. It was the objective of this investigation to describe and classify the lesions in the heart following experimental infection of germfree and colostrumdeprived pigs with this strain of porcine polioencephalomyelitis virus, and to correlate the findings with data obtained by electrocardiography and reisolation.