MICROBIOLOGY OF HIBERNATION IN GROUND SQUIRRELS 



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ARCTIC GROUND SQUIRRELS GIVEN COXSACKIE B-3 VIRUS 



Figure •*. Arctic ground squirrels given Coxsackie B-3 virus. 



fectious for ground squirrels in both the hibernating and non- 

 hibernating state. They were able to recover virus up to 50 days, 

 after subcutaneous inoculation, from the brown fat, brain, and 

 heart tissue of animals which had hibernated. On the other hand, 

 their active animals were positive for virus at 4 but not at 14 

 days after a similar inoculation. They make no mention of the 

 squirrels arousing from hibernation following the injections nor 

 subsequently during the study period and would seem to infer that 

 they observed continuous hibernation for as many as 50 days. 

 Based on our own experience and the published reports of others 

 (Lyman and Chatfieli, 1955; Kayser, 1960), periods of continuous 

 hibernation beyond 30 days are unusual; the record, to my knowledge, 

 has been 40 days (Kayser, 1960), We have not as yet examined 

 any tissues from our animals for the presence of virus but expect 

 to do so in some future studies. It is my belief that active virus 

 could remain in the animal so long as hibernation continued. Such 

 findings would, of course, have implications with respect to the 

 possibility of overwintering of enteric and other viral agents. 



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