Infectivity of Avian Reoviruses for Day-Old Chicks Under Germ-free and Isolation Conditions

Abstract

There has been considerable difficulty in associating reoviruses with human and animal infections. They have been isolated from healthy children, as well as children with mild febrile upper respiratory and intestinal infections, and from a number of animal species. The known pathological manifestations of reovirus infections in animals are as follows: Reovirus 2 is said to have been etiologically associated with an epidemic of coryza among chimpanzees in a laboratory and a strain of this type was isolated from the lung of a cynomolgus monkey which died of pneumonia. The prototype strain of reovirus type 1, and simian strains of types 1 and 2 produced a meningitis and necrosis of the choroid plexus when inoculated intracerebrally in monkeys. Some human strains of all these serotypes were pathogenic for suckling mice when inoculated parenterally in large doses, lesions occurred in organs including the brain, heart, and liver. Adult guinea pigs or calves inoculated intranasally with strains of human origin did not show any illness.