Hypertrophy, hyperplasia, and infectious virus in gut-associated lymphoid tissue of mice after oral inoculation with simian-human or bovine-human reassortant rotaviruses

Oral inoculation of infants with a vaccine that contains simian-human reass ortant rotaviruses has been found to be a rare cause of intussusception. Be cause intussusception can be associated with enlargement of gut-associated lymphoid tissue, we studied the capacity of simian-human and bovine-human r eassortant rotaviruses to cause lymphoid hypertrophy and hyperplasia of Pey er's patches (PP) of adult BALB/c mice. Neither hypertrophy nor hyperplasia was detected in PP after oral inoculation with simian-human or bovine-huma n reassortant rotaviruses. However, infectious virus was detected in PP and mesenteric lymph nodes after oral inoculation with simian, but not bovine, reassortant rotaviruses. Implications of these findings on the pathogenesi s of intussusception are discussed.