Cytomegalovirus infection in guinea pigs. III. Persistent viruria, blood transmission, and viral interference.

Chronic persistent infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) was studied in random-bred Hartley and inbred strain 2 guinea pigs. Infectious virus was isolated from the urine, kidney, spleen, pancreas, salivary gland, and cervix, but not from buffy coat of persistently infected guinea pigs. Strain 2 animals developed a high rate of chronic viruria, which was not related to isolation of CMV from renal tissue. In female strain 2 guinea pigs viruria was more than twice as prevalent as in males (56% vs. 24%). Transfusion of buffy coat from persistently infected strain 2 animals resulted in CMV infection in both isogenic and allogenic blood recipients, but buffy coat from uninfected donors did not activate CMV in persistently infected isogenic and allogenic blood recipients. Experimental CMV infection of young strain 2 guinea pigs interfered with the expression of guinea pig herpes-like virus, a common endogenous virus in strain 2 animals.