ABSTRACT
The spectrum of parvovirus disease ranges from acute, lethal affections to slowly progressing, sometimes chronic illness. A concise discussion of the various aspects of parvovirus disease in animals might be helpful in sketching the pathogenic potential of this "new" human pathogen and in estimating its true role in human disease. If enteritis ana diarrhea can be said to represent the most frequent, most dramatic facet of epidemically occurring parvovirus disease, the attack of parvoviruses on the lymphopoietic/hematopoietic system certainly has to be regarded as the most constant expression of parvovirus pathogenicity. Cerebellar ataxia was also observed in rats after transplacental infection with rat virus (RV) and, finally, Kilham and Margolis, and Johnson and co-workers succeeded in inducing cerebellar ataxia with Feline parvovirus (FPV) in newborn kittens and in the ferret. Replication of rodent parvoviruses in the liver has been frequently observed in the course of in utero infections.
