Limited Persistence of Viral Antigen in Coxsackievirus B3 Induced Heart Disease in Mice

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Abstract
Following acute Coxsackievirus B3 infection of young adult mice, peak virus titers in the heart were found 7 days postinfection virus was cleared. Though postinfection cardiomyopathy was observed following disappearance of virus, evidence for the continued presence of structural viral antigen in cardiac cells could not be found. Postinfection myocarditis is likely to be due to cytotoxic T[thymus-derived]-lymphocytes directed against nonstructural viral antigen or to a cellular neoantigen.