[Survival of tick-borne encephalitis complex viruses in a brain cell culture from suckling mice].

The evidence of long-term survival of the tick-borne encephalitis complex viruses in primarily trypsinized brain cells of suckling mice inoculated in vivo is presented. The viability of the brain cell cultures from suckling mice inoculated with an attenuated strain was shown to be higher than that of a similar culture of the brain cells from suckling mice infected with a virulent strain. The infectious virus could be recovered for over 200 days of the existence of these cultures. The experimental results appear to be another confirmation of the capacity of viruses of the tick-borne encephalitis complex, particularly of the attenuated strains, for persistence.