A New Member of the Herpesvirus Group Isolated from South American Marmosets

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Abstract
Summary: A herpesvirus was isolated from two sick marmoset monkeys (Tamarinus nigricollis), that were believed to be infected with a helminth. The same virus was isolated directly from the kidneys and lungs of two different monkeys. It produced an effect in tissue culture cells resembling that of herpesvirus. The virus produced rapid, fatal infection in marmosets and in suckling mice; and it produced pocks on the chorioallantoic membrane. Antigenically, this virus of new world monkeys was found to be different from classical herpes simplex virus and from B virus of old world monkeys, with no detectable cross reactivity. Its size and structure also show that the virus belongs in the herpes group, which may be briefly characterized as viruses containing DNA cores and possessing icosahedral symmetry with 162 hollow capsomeres. The behavior of the marmoset agent in tissue culture places it in herpesviruses of subgroup A (high titer of free virus) as against those in subgroup B (free virus uncommon). By using primary kidney cell cultures of rabbit and of green and rhesus monkeys, it is possible to distinguish among the primate herpesviruses of subgroup A on the basis of the fact that the rabbit cultures are susceptible to all three, and green monkey cultures to both, of the monkey viruses (old world and new world), but not to the virus of man, whereas rhesus cultures are susceptible only to the old world monkey virus.