Congenital infections due to reovirus type 3 in hamsters

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Abstract
Reovirus type 3 was able to induce various effects in fetuses depending on the period of gestation pregnant hamsters were inoculated. Inoculations on gestation days 1–5 resulted in a high rate of fetal deaths. Fetuses of females inoculated on days 9–11 all became infected, but survived and developed normally. Reovirus proliferated to high liters in placentas and uteruses and was recovered from amniotic fluids in higher titer than from fetuses. Presence of phloxinophilic cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in pathologic studies revealed a spectrum of fetal infection ranging from mild involvement of the epidermis and ora mucosa to widespread systemic disease involving skin, visual organs, skeletal muscle, and neural tissues as well as voluntary muscles. These findings were substantiated by immunofluorescence studies. Throughout these experiments pregnant animals remained in good health in spite of having relatively high and sustained viremias. In view of the ubiquitous distribution of reoviruses in nature, and their lack of interspecies differences, observations of their ability to induce serious transplacental infections as well as hydrocephalus in laboratory animals point to the desirability of continued study of their potential role in the etiology of human disease.