Coxsackievirus B4 infection of sympathetic ganglia in squirrel monkeys.

Lumbar sympathetic ganglionitis was found by light microscopy in 2 of 17 (12%) squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) experimentally infected with Coxsackievirus B4. This finding shows that viruses can cause ganglionitis which, in turn, must cause autonomic nervous system dysfunction. Such viral ganglionitis may explain some diseases, including cardiovascular ones, of poorly understood or unknown etiology which present with manifestations of dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system.