EN
The problem of transplacental penetration of the rabies virus from mother to its foetus in different animals as well as in man is not conclusively explained. Despite numerous studies no univocal results were obtained (16, 7, 23, 8, 9, 13, 24, 17, 1, 18, 22, 30, 10, 25, 12, 28). It seems that the discrepant findings of the studies result mainly from differences in the structure and function of the placenta of various animal species (12). Very little information is avaible on this problem in sheep. Only Kerbler (13) reported that infection of pregnant ewes with the street rabies virus had no effect on its foetuses. In the present study an attempt has been made to ascertain whether foetuses of ewes infected intracerebrally with the fixed rabies virus also undergo the infection. Obtaining positive results would allow to use foetus brains for rabies vaccine production. With negative results, lambs born alive could be used for breeding.