Pathogenesis of Sendai virus infection in the Syrian hamster

Young adult male Syrian hamsters were inoculated intranasally with Sendai virus, then killed and examined at postinoculation days (PID) 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 16, and 21. Evaluation included clinical assessment, histologic examination, immunohistochemistry, viral isolation, and antibody response. Inoculated and control hamsters remained asymptomatic throughout the study. There was a focal to segmental rhinitis involving respiratory tract epithelium lining the dorsal and ventral meatus and nasal septum, and segmental lesions involving all regions of the trachea. At PID 5 and 7, there was focal bronchitis and bronchioloalveolitis, respectively. In general, most lesions had resolved by PID 12, although in hamsters examined at PID 21, residual lesions were present in the nasal passages in one of three, and in the trachea in two of three animals. In immunoperoxidase-stained preparations, viral antigen was present in the respiratory tract epithelium of the nasal passages and trachea beginning at PID 3, with extension to scattered bronchi at PID 5. Sendai virus was recovered from the lungs of inoculated animals at PID 5. Antibodies to Sendai virus were first detected at PID 7, and titers remained high throughout the remainder of the 21-day study. This report provides additional evidence that Syrian hamsters are susceptible to Sendai virus infection, and that the lesions and sites of replication in the upper and lower portions of the respiratory tract are similar to those observed in susceptible strains of laboratory mice.