[Study of experimental chronic infection in mice caused by herpes simplex virus].

A chronic herpetic infection was produced in white random-bred mice by intradermal inoculation with the L2, 333 and K strains. The virus was regularly detected in the blood of the animals by the method of co-cultivation of leukocytes and human embryo fibroblasts for 70 days (the observation period). The virus was isolated from the brain, the spinal cord and viscera from the 3rd till the 30th postinoculation day. The virus antigen was found in leukocytes, and erythrocytes of the blood, the spinal cord and the brain from the 7th till the 70th day, and in the liver and spleen from the 7th to the 30th day. The titer of interferon in the viscera and serum of mice in the first 2-3 days after inoculation was 8 units, and subsequently 2 units. The interferon-producing activity of the blood leukocytes in mice was reduced (16-32 units) as compared to that in uninfected animals (64-128 units). The antibody titer at 7 days after incoulation was 1 : 32 in the blood serum of mice, at later intervals no antibody was found. Inflammatory and dengerative changes in the central nervous system and viscera of mice were detected throughout the observation period starting from the 7th day postinoculation.