Coxsackievirus causes severe disease in adult mice subjected to sustained post-weaning undernutrition (marasmus). Virus-infected marasmic mice have an increased incidence of mortality, severe lesions, and elevated and persistent viral in target organs. Transfer of immune lymphoid cells 30 min or 24 hr after viral challenge significantly reduced the incidence of death and lesions. The protective capacity of immune cells was further manifested by reduced titers of virus in the target organs. Since lymphoid tissues are severely atrophic in marasmic mice, these results indicate that this deficiency contributed significantly to the impaired ability of these hosts to recover from viral disease. These observations support the idea that the acquisition of lymphocyte-mediated defense mechanisms is essential for normal recovery from certain primary viral infections.

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