Interspecies transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease to Syrian hamsters with reference to clinical syndromes and strains of agent.

Experimental Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was serially transmitted from guinea pigs to Syrian hamsters with 100% incidence, morbidity, and mortality. All animals developed a subacute spongiform virus encephalopathy with neuronal destruction and concomitant astrocytic changes. In the first passage three different clinical syndromes were recorded, each with widely variant incubation times; these results suggested there may be different strains of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob agent, some of which may be partially separated when the agent is passaged from one species to another. Accumulations of neurofilaments in neuronal perikarya and processes and increased lipofuscin were suggestive of changes seen in senility and aging.