Serological evidence that Mus musculus is the natural host of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) infection is maintained in mouse colonies by fecal-oral spread (with no apparent role for persistent c entral nervous system infection) from an acutely infected animal to another . Therefore, serological methods offer the principal way to assess infectio n in mice and related rodent populations. Infection of mouse colonies with TMEV appears to be worldwide, yet no systematic serologic studies have been reported. In this study, enzyme-linked immunoassay and neutralization anal ysis of sera from feral Mus musculus obtained from four locations in the Un ited States and one in Russia revealed antibodies to purified TMEV and two linear viral peptide epitopes in more than 50% of the sera derived from the five different locations. A similar analysis of sera from 26 species of re lated rodents trapped at multiple locations in North America and Europe ind icated the presence of anti-TMEV antibodies only in a small proportion of w ater and bank voles that belong to a different subfamily. These results ind icate that Mus musculus is the natural host of TMEV. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.