Three-to-four week-old C57BL/6J WT (7 dpi, n = 7; 14 dpi, n = 10; 21 dpi, n = 5) and CD8α−/− (7 dpi, n = 12; 14 dpi, n = 7; 21 dpi, n = 5) mice were inoculated with 103 PFU of RRV. At 7, 14, and 21 dpi mice were sacrificed, perfused by intracardial injection with 1× PBS, and total RNA was isolated from the (A) right quadriceps muscle and (B) right ankle/foot. RRV genome levels were quantified by absolute RT-qPCR. Horizontal bars indicate the mean. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, as determined by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test. (C and D) Three-to-four week-old C57BL/6J WT (n = 21) and CD8α−/− (n = 28) mice were inoculated with 103 PFU of RRV and assessed for (C) weight gain and (D) musculoskeletal disease signs including loss of gripping ability and altered gait at 24-hour intervals. Each data point represents the arithmetic mean ± SD.