[The coxsackievirus-infected mouse: an animal model for the study of virus myocarditis]

Basing on the experimental infection of adult mice with coxsackie virus A9 reported by Lerner in 1965 and the successful cultivation of the virus from the hearts of experimental animals, a model for studying virus myocarditis is proposed. By a combination of factors favouring the infection (age of the animals above 1 year, physical load prior to infection by repeated swimming) a high virus re-isolation rate was achieved. Cultivation of the virus from the mouse heart was possible on the 3rd day p.i. in 81%, on the 6th day in 71%, on the 9th day in 31%, and on the 12th day in 12% of the cases. In 66% of the animals towards the end of the period of observation a significant increase in few cases is the virus isolated on the 3rd and 6th day p.i. also from the skeletal muscles. The model can be used both for pathogenetic studies on myocardites elicited by cardiotropic viruses and for in vivo testing of antiviral substances.