Epidemic Diarrheal Disease of Suckling Mice

An epidemic diarrheal disease of 2 to 3 weeks old suckling mice in the breeding colony of this laboratory has been described in previous papers (1, 2). No recognized bacterial pathogen was isolated from these animals and inflammatory changes in the large and small bowel were minimal or absent. The finding of intranuclear inclusion bodies in the epithelial cells of the villi of the small intestine (2) strengthened the supposition that the disease might be fundamentally one of viral origin. Before this theory could be subjected to adequate experimental trial an unfortunate accident in the animal house wiped out pr~tically the entire colony. During the course of our work it was brought to our attention that diarrheal disease of suckling mice was endemic in the colonies of several other breeders. It was determined to introduce one or more of these strains of mice into our laboratory in order to study the occurrence of the diarrheal syndrome in these animals with an eye to determining whether the etiology of the disease was single or multiple. Furthermore it was of primary importance to determine