Persistence of Adenovirus 5 in guinea pigs

One intracardiac inoculation of adenovirus 5 in guinea pigs leads to virus persistence in different organs, viz., 5 days in lungs and liver, 14 days in blood and lymph nodes, and 56 days or more in the spleen. After cultivation of tissue cells for 1 week, virus was recovered from blood, lymph nodes, or spleen lymphocytes, but virus could be detected directly in cells only when organs were removed within 48 h of inoculation. To determine how the virus persisted in low concentrations and as a latent infection, spleens were primarily selected for study by three techniques: homogenization of spleens, suspended Maitland fragment cultures, and in vitro cultivation of spleen cells. The last procedure showed virus in fibroblast-like cells (probably macrophages or reticuloendothelial cells) for 56 days after infection of guinea pigs. With other methods, the virus was found only within the first 2 days after inoculation.