Multiplication and Antibody Formation of Japanese Encephalitis Virus in Snakes - 1. Antibody responses to the virus and serum

Japanese encephalitis(JE) shows its explosive epidemicity in the temperate zone of Asia but little is known on the overwintering mechanism. One of the hypotheses on the overwintering mechanism is that the virus overwinters in the hibernating animals. There has been no report on the proliferation of JE virus(JEV) or antibody formation in the snakes. The purpose of this experiment is to explore the mutual relationship between JEV and snake and to clarify whether JEV proliferates and induce antibody formation in snakes. Three species of non-poisonous common snakes were employed. Precipitation test was carried out after injecting calf serum and, HI and neutralization tests were done by injecting JEV into the snakes. The gamma globulin fraction of pre- and post-injection serum were compared by paper chromatography. According to the results, precipitating antibody reaction to calf serum could be observed only at $4^{\circ}C$. It was failed to demonstrate HI antibody formation but neutralizing antibody could be detected in one of the 9 snakes. Although antibody could not be detected in test-tube, tile result of paper chromatography shows the remarkable increase of gamma globulin fraction after the injection. Above results are strongly indicating the antibody formation in the snakes.