Passive immunization in experimental Herpesvirus hominis infection of newborn mice

Infection of newborn mice with Herpesvirus hominis type 2(HVH-2) was used as an experimental model of disseminated HVH infection in newborn humans. Mice were challenged with 103 plaque-forming units of HVH-2 intranasally and were given 0.2 ml of rabbit serum intraperitoneally. Passive immunizations with rabbit anti-HVH-2 serum resulted in a significant decrease in mortality and prolongation of survival time. This effect correlated with the neutralizing antibody titer of the serum against HVH-2 and was more pronounced when immune serum was administered 1 h after infection as compared with 24 h. These results suggest that administration of high-titer anti-HVH-2 immunoglobulins shortly after delivery could afford significant protection to the newborn of a mother with genital HVH-2 infection.