Visualization of Poliovirus Type III in Paraffin Sections of Monkey Spinal Cord by Indirect Immuno-fluorescence

THE presence of a number of viruses has been demonstrated visually in the central nervous system of experimentally infected animals as well as in encephalitic human brain. Noyes 1 was first to reveal by immuno-fluorescence the presence of West Nile virus both in sensory and motor neurones of mice. Sabin and Messore 2 , also with the aid of immuno-fluorescent technique, observed herpes simplex virus in the paraffin sections of a human brain, cut from blocks stored over a period of years. Using electron microscopy, Nelson, Hager and Kovács 3,4 found crystals of Columbia SK virus, both in neurones and polymorpho-nuclear leucocytes of infected mouse brain. By similar means, yellow fever virus was observed in Bergold's laboratory 5 to be associated exclusively with astrocytes of the brain of the mouse.