[Wasting disease produced in hamsters after the inoculation of a bovine leukemic material].

Wasting disease was observed in hamsters inoculated at birth with a cell-free bovine leukemic extract. The autopsy and histological examination of the runted hamsters revealed visible lesions in the lymphoid tissues. These lesions consisted mostly in depletion of lympocytes in the spleen and in the cortex of the lymph nodes and in atrophy of the Peper's patches. Thymic lesions were also observed. Anemia and a decrease of circulating lymphocytes were observed in the peripheral blood.