EXPERIMENTAL ADENOVIRUS PNEUMONIA IN CALVES

A mild interstitial pneumonia with mononuclear cell infiltration was produced in calves following intra-tracheal inoculation of the BIL adenovirus. Viral antigen appeared early in regional lymph node. An interstitial reaction developed early in the lungs, and pneumonic lesions and infective virus were present by the third day after inoculation. Virus spread rapidly trachea, tonsils and nasal mucosa, and was creted from the third to eighth day. Upper and lower respiratory tissues continually harboured virus until the 12th day, when the experiment was terminated. The virus was isolated from the livers of two calves. All tissues yielded low concentrations of virus, and only the lung showed pathological reactions. The reactions were qualitatively similar to known adenovirus pneumonias, but considerably milder, and lacked the characteristic necrotic and proliferative bronchiolar changes.