Infection of mice with the murine coronavirus mouse hepatitis
virus (MHV) provides a model for studying acute virusinduced
neurological disease as well as providing a model for
chronic demyelinating diseases,
such as multiple sclerosis. Following
intracranial (i.c.) inoculation, MHV-A59 replicates in
the central nervous system (CNS) and causes acute encephalitis,
which peaks at about 7 days postinfection (12); virus is
cleared from the CNS by 7 to 14 days postinfection (27).
Following clearance, surviving mice develop an immune-mediated
demyelinating disease (12), which peaks at about 30 days
postinfection (36