Coxsackievirus B3 infection in pregnancy and its influence on foetal heart development.

Infection of mice on the 12th or 14th day of pregnancy with Coxsackievirus B3 resulted in the birth of growth-retarded young which died soon after birth and exhibited an abnormal heart development. The ratio of heart weight to body weight in these offspring was higher than normal. The auricles were prominent and the ventricles developed such that the heart apex was bifid in appearance. This anomalous cardiac development may have been due to a direct viral pathogenicity in the developing tissue or, as seems more likely, resulted from a generalized disturbance in foetal growth attributable to a virus-induced pancreatic insufficiency in the mother. Retarded development in the pulmonary system also resulting from aberrations in foetal growth may have been contributory to impaired postnatal cardiac growth.