Slow viral infections of animals: experimental models for human disease

Sigurdsson's three criterions for a slow viral infection are quoted and discussed and the background of his work briefly described. A fourth criterion for a slow viral infection, is suggested, infection of the hosts lymphoid tissues, which is a common feature of slow infections that have been observed. The general properties of the maedi-visna virus, the diseases and the immune response it causes are discussed. Sheep and goats are susceptible to natural maedi-visna infection. In the goat an identical retrovirus causes arthritis. Arthritis has not been found in maedi-visna infected sheep. Two subacute spongiform encephalopathies of animals are shortly reviewed, scrapie in sheep and goats and transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME). General properties of the very unusual scrapie agent are mentioned briefly. The third type of a slow viral infection is mentioned, Aleutian mink disease, an immunopathological disorder of certain minks caused by a selective infection of lymphoid cells.