An ocular model of Adenovirus type 5 infection in the rabbit.

Adenoviruses are a common cause of viral eye disease in humans. Recently, new antiviral drugs have been developed, which possess promising anti-adenovirus activity. In order to test these drugs, an ocular model of adenovirus infection was developed in 10 Hollander rabbits following topical, intrastromal and subconjunctival inoculation with a standard laboratory serotype (Adenovirus type 5 from The American Type Culture Collection). Clinical signs of infection-conjunctivitis, keratitis, corneal edema, subepithelial opacities, anterior chamber reaction and iritis-were evaluated. Adenovirus was isolated from the eye several days after inoculation and intra-epithelial viral replication was detected using the replica-technique. Reproducible ocular infection was clinically demonstrated in all rabbits.