Transmissible mink encephalopathy: infectivity of corneal epithelium.

Corneal epithelium from hamsters dying of transmissible mink encephalopathy contained a virus titer of 10-4.8 times the 50 percent lethal dose (10-4.8 LD50) per 0.05 milliliter when assayed as a cell suspension derived directly from the infected animal. After one passage in tissue culture, an equivalent concentration of cells contained only 10-0.8 LD50 per 0.05 milliliter.. It is concluded that corneal tissues are infectious; the infectivity may be mainly associated with free nerve endings. However, the most important immediate inference is that corneas from human beings affected with Creuzfeldt-Jakob disease are likely to be lethal if transplanted to healthy recipients.