Transplacental Transmission of Rubella Virus Infection in Rabbits

Rabbits were inseminated artificially and inoculated 1 week later with rubella virus. The attenuated vaccine strain HPV-77 or strain 67-1127 which had been through 12 cell culture passages was used. Half of the rabbits in each group had been inoculated 1 month prior to insemination with the corresponding strain. Evidence of infection induced by either strain was obtained by immunofluorescence in lung, spleen, and placenta. Rubella virus antigen was also found in the lung of a 2-month-old rabbit of a dam inoculated with strain 67-1127. A high rate of stillbirths and neonatal deaths and poor weight gain occurred in litters of the 67-1127 group.