Chronic rabies virus infection of cell cultures.

Exposure of both mammalian and reptilian cells in tissue culture to different strains of fixed rabies virus resulted in a carrier type of infection. No cytopathic effect was observed in either type of culture; infected cultures could be maintained by cell transfer for unlimited numbers of passages. A consistent pattern of cyclically rising and falling levels of viral infection was observed by fluorescent-antibody staining techniques and by titration of released infectious virus. Resistance to super-infection by vesicular stomatis virus and the production of an interferon-like substance by infected cells indicated that the maintenance of a carrier type of infection may be interferon-mediated. The degree of susceptibility of rabies-infected cells to immunolysis by antirabies antibody in the presence of complement was found to be correlated with the amount of virus maturation occurring by budding through the cell membrane and not with the presence of immunofluorescent antigen in the cytoplasm of infected cells.