New strain of mouse hepatitis virus as the cause of lethal enteritis in infant mice

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Abstract
A new strain of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) was isolated from pooled gut suspensions from an epizootic of lethal enteritis in newborn mice. Negative-contrast EM showed an abundance of coronavirus particles in the intestinal contents and intestinal epithelium of moribund mice. No other virus was found in the epizootic. Dams seroconverted to MHV polyvalent antigen [Ag] and to the agent isolated, but did not develop antibodies [Ab] to other known mouse pathogens. Virus propagated in NCTC-1469 [mouse liver] tissue culture produced enteric disease in suckling mice but not fatal diarrhea; the dams of these mice developed Ab to MHV and to the isolates. Complement fixation, single radial hemolysis and quantal neutralization tests were used to determine the isolates antigenically most closely related to MHV-S, unilaterally related to MHV-JHM and more distantly related to MHV-1, MHV-3, MHV-A59 and human coronavirus OC-43. Cross-reactions among the murine and human coronaviruses were studied in detail. Tissues of infected newborn mice were examined by light microscopy, thin-section EM and frozen-section indirect immunofluorescence, revealing that viral Ag, virus particles and pathological changes were limited to the intestinal tract. The isolates were designated as MHV-S/CDC.

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