Effect of respiratory syncytial virus infection on mice with protein malnutrition.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) pulmonary infection was produced in BALB/c mice fed protein-deficient diets in an effort to understand the severity of viral pneumonia in infants in developing countries. As in previously published experiments with Sendai virus, animals on the deficient diet became clinically malnourished, and certain aspects of their cell-mediated immunity were altered. The course of RSV infection in protein-deprived mice was essentially identical to that in normally nourished animals. The titer of virus recovered from lung homogenates over time, as well as the histologic picture of bronchiolitis, were identical under all experimental conditions. This model, unlike that of Sendai virus infection, fails to demonstrate an effect of protein malnutrition on RSV infection.