Variability of Powassan virus cultured in tissue explants and organism of Hyalomma anatolicum ticks
Khozinskaya, G.A.; Chunikhin, S.P.; Khozinsky, V.V.; Stefutkina, L.F.
Acta Virologica 29(4): 305-311
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-723X PMID: 2864833 Document Number: 262049
The variability of Powassan virus was studied during successive passages in Hyalomma anatolicum ticks or prolonged reproduction in their tissue explants. It had been shown that in the course of tick passages and during reproduction in the explants, pathogenicity of the virus in respect to causing acute disease in mice after peripheral inoculation was decreased, while virus ability to cause death after intracerebral (i.c.) inoculation remained unchanged. In mice infected with the original strain P-40 of Powassan virus damaging effect of the immune response prevailed, while in mice infected with the strains passaged for a long time in ticks (strain P-40Hat) or in tick tissue explants (strain P-40Haex), the protective effect of the immune response was prominent.