Experimental transmission of Sendai virus infection in mice.

A model was developed for experimental transmission of Sendai virus in mice. Infection could be transmitted by the airborne route as well as by direct contact. Mice were most infectious from the fifth to eighth day after onset of infection. Infectiousness was related to availability of virus in the respiratory tract. The frequency of transmitted infection was directly related to the number of infectious mice present. Some mice proved to transmit infection much more readily than others. Virus multiplication in contact mice appeared to be confined almost exclusively to the respiratory tract. Infected contacts were able to transmit infection to new contacts in eight succeeding generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]