| Abstract: | Pygmy marmosets were inoculated with the low-passage parental strain or with the attenuated variant of OKA strain of varicella-zoster virus. No clinical signs were observed following inoculation and virus could not be isolated from tissues taken at several times after inoculation. A low-level antibody response developed in all animals. Three months after the first inoculation, all animals were challenged with the low-passage parental strain of virus. Animals primed originally with the parental strain developed higher booster responses than animals primed with the attenuated strain of virus. The results suggest that the parental and attenuated strains of varicella-zoster virus differ in their immunogenicity in pygmy marmosets. |
