SEVERE INFECTIONS WITH THE VIRUS OF LYMPHOCYTIC CHORIOMENINGITIS

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Abstract
In 1933, during the St. Louis encephalitis epidemic, Armstrong and Lillie1 isolated a virus which in rhesus monkeys always caused a round cell infiltration of the meninges and choroid plexus and which they therefore named lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. Since the demonstration of virus neutralizing and complement fixing antibodies in the serums of persons convalescing from infections with the virus of lymphocytic choriomeningitis, it has been estimated that 11% of the general population in urban areas have antibodies against this virus without any history of clinical infection.2 The syndrome of "benign" lymphocytic choriomeningitis characterized by an initial grippal syndrome of 3 to 10 days' duration, followed in a week to 10 days by symptoms of meningeal irritation, with about a thousand white blood cells in the spinal fluid, of which 90% to 100% are lymphocytes, with negative results of bacteriological studies on the spinal fluid, and with uncomplicated recovery
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