Distribution of Bovid herpesvirus 2 in calves inoculated intravenously.

The behavior of Bovid herpesvirus 2 in the skin, lymph nodes, and nervous system of calves injected intravenously with the virus was studied. After a latent phase that lasted up to 40 hours after inoculation, the virus produced a systemic infection which was characterized by primary localization of virus in the skin, lymph nodes, and nervous system. Between postinoculation days 7 and 12, the infection tended to persist in the skin only. The finding of intranuclear inclusions in the pyramidal cells of the cerebral cortex and in the neurons of the superior cervical and stellate ganglia supports the hypothesis that the virus might utilize the structures of the nervous system for its replicative cycle in the calf.