Ecology of the murine alphaherpesvirus and its isolation from lungs of rodents in cell culture.

Together 381 sera of murine rodents (Apodemus flavicollis, Clethrionomys glareolus, Microtus arvalis and Mus musculus) trapped in different localities of Czechoslovakia were examined for the presence of antibodies to a murine alphaherpesvirus (MHV) and to murine cytomegalovirus (CMV). Positivity of rodent sera to the two MHV and one murine CMV strains varied from none to 12.5% and from none up to 11.3%, respectively, depending on the locality under study. From the lungs of A. flavicollis showing serum antibodies to MHV, a further murine herpes virus strain was isolated in rabbit embryo fibroblasts (REF). The latter MHV reached a titre of 10(10) TCID50/ml in the 13th passage, causing typical cytopathic effect from the 2nd passage on.