[Development of cellular immunity in experimental tick-borne encephalitis]

The development of cellular immunity was investigated in mice infected experimentally with tick-borne encephalitis virus strains (TBE) isolated from patients. In the presence of strain variants of the response, two main trends in the dynamics of cellular immunity induced by different virus strains were established: a rapid increase in the level of sensitization of lymphoid cells in the first days after virus inoculation followed in the stage of paralysis by the desensitization phenomenon (the dynamics of the waning type), and a gradual increase in the level of cellular response in the course of the infectious process (the dynamics of progressive type). The type of the dynamics and the level of immune response correlate with the clinical forms of TBE in man. A possible mechanism of the effect of the immunosuppressing properties of the virus on the immune response pattern in infected mice and the significance of the latter in TBE pathogenesis are discussed.