946 
ANIMAL DISEASES 
COXSACKIE VALVULITIS 
(Mitral Valve } 
Figure 1. — (A) Aortic leaflet of the mitral valve of an 
18-day-old mouse killed 5 days after inoculation with 
coxsackievirus Bi showing a verrucous lesion on the 
ventricular surface of the valve leaflet, round cell in- 
filtration, endothelial proliferation, and stromal 
edema (x 60). (B) High-power magnification of a 
portion of the valve leaflet shown above (x 400) 
(J.A.M.A. 196:849, 1966). 
Acute valvular lesions consisted of endo- 
thelial proliferation, round cell infiltration, 
and edema of the valve (Figures 1 and 2). Al- 
though fibrous adhesions betv^^een the valves and 
the mural endocardium developed in some of the 
older animals, there vi^ere no consistent morph- 
ologic variations with age. No histologic evi- 
dence of valvulitis v\^as found in any of the con- 
trol animals. 
Coxsackievirus B4 antigen was identified in 
the valves and mural endocardium, as well as 
in the myocardium, by immunofluorescent 
technics* in the virus inoculated animals. Tis- 
sue from control animals displayed only weak 
non-specific fiuorescence. 
Group II: Valvulitis was found in 6 of the 7 
monkeys inoculated with group B4 coxsackie- 
virus. The gross lesions consisted of (1) verru- 
cous aortic valvulitis in 2 animals, (2) verru- 
cous mitral valvulitis in 3 animals (Figure 3), 
and (8) cicatricial thickening of the mitral 
valve leaflets and chordae tendineae with com- 
missural adhesions (stenosis) and 2 animals 
(Figure 4) . 
Histologically, the valve tissue from the ani- 
mals inoculated with group B4 coxsackievirus 
displayed stromal edema, round cell infiltration, 
fibrocytic infiltration, increased basophilia and 
swelling of endothelial cells (Figures 5, 6, 
and 7). 
Figure 2. — Top: Aortic valve of a 20-day-old mouse ' 
killed 6 days after inoculation with coxsackievirus Bi f 
showing markedly thickened aortic cusps, round cell | 
infiltration, and stromal edema (x 60). Bottom: [ 
Mural endocardium below the septal leaflet of the ■ 
tricuspid valve of the same animal showing round [ 
cell infiltration of endocardial tissue (x 400) 
(J.A.M.A. 196:349, 1966). ' 
