Diagnosis of sialodacryoadenitis virus infection of rats in a virulent enzootic outbreak

In a natural outbreak of sialodacryoadenitis virus it was observed that the incidence of clinical signs in spontaneous-hypertensive rats was 100%, and that these signs were of a severity not observed before in other strains of rats. Rats free of the virus were introduced so that the progress of the disease could be studied under natural conditions of spontaneous spread from the enzootically-affected breeding colony. The pathogenesis of the infection in these Sprague-Dawley rats has been recorded over a period of 10 days after their introduction to the colony, and the results of extensive serological screening have shown that the antibody response of the spontaneous-hypertensive rats to the virus is lower than in other strains of rat.