The effect of anti-lymphocytic serum of infection by congo virus (Crimean haemorrhagic fever virus related) and Mokola virus (rabies virus related).

Antilymphocytic serum (ALS) raised in white New Zealand rabbits with Swiss albino mice thymocytes significantly protected mice challenged with Congo virus (Crimean haemorrhagic fever virus related) from the lethal episodes of the infection. There was a delaying as well as a sparing effect on morbidity and mortality, which was particularly striking in adult mice. Histopathological examination of brain sections of treated mice showed a complete suppression of the characteristic inflammatory tissue reactions, which marked similar sections prepared from mice treated with normal rabbit serum (NRS) or from the virus control group. Unlike Congo virus infection, ALS did not have a demonstrable effect on Mokola virus (rabies virus related) infection. A comparison of the effect of ALS on Congo virus infection and its effect on murine lymphocytic choriomeningitis is made. It was observed that a constant feature of ALS treatment was gross splenic enlargement in the animals. It is suggested that this might have been due, at least in part, to a gross sequestration of sensitized red blood cells, as revealed by the histopathology of the organ. Other possible causes of splenomegaly in immunosuppressed mice are also discussed.