[The course of airborne infection in rabbits infected with the Venezuelan encephalomyelitis virus].

The experimental data on aerosol challenge of rabbits with Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) virus are presented. Lethal infection of rabbits was followed by a rise in body temperature (greater than 0.5 degrees C) within 1-2 days after challenge. Two waves of lethality in aerosol infection experiments were recorded. Three variants of the infection outcome were observed after VEE virus aerosol challenge of rabbits. The causes of death of the infected rabbits are discussed.