Distribution of mouse cytomegalovirus in organs of white mice experimentally infected by natural route.

One, 10, 21-day-old and adult mice were inoculated by peroral and/or intranasal routes with mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV). In animals surviving generalized infection, the virus could be demonstrated in salivary glands up to 123 days postinfection (p.i.). In mouse females which had eaten their infected and diseased offspring, the virus was detectable in salivary glands up to day 121, p.i. On day 16 p.i., the virus was present in salivary glands, lungs and kidneys of mice of different age groups, but no virus was recovered from their Gasserian ganglia. These results were compared with those obtained after infection with murine alpha herpesvirus.