Bovine enteroviruses: apparent correlation between antigenic characters and capacity to grow in the presence of small concentrations of 2-(alpha-hydroxybenzyl)-benzimidazole

Bovine, porcine and ovine picornaviruses: identification of viruses with properties similar to human coxsackieviruses

Eleven bovine, 19 porcine, and 3 ovine picornaviruses were tested for their ability to grow in the presence of the viral inhibitors 2-(alpha-hydroxy-benzyl)- benzimidazole (HBB) and guanidine-HC1 (GHC1). The nature of the lesions produced by inoculation of newborn mice with these viruses was also investigated. Nine bovine viruses were inhibited by both compounds, and produced skeletal myonecrosis in mice, suggesting similarities to the human coxsackie group B viruses and indicating potential pathogenicity for bovine species. One bovine virus (VH7) was inhibited by GHC1 but not by HBB and caused widespread skeletal muscle damage in mice typical of coxsackie group A viruses. Another bovine virus (F266a) was inhibited only by HBB. None of the porcine or ovine viruses showed significant inhibition by either compound nor produced lesions in mice.

A serological classification of bovine enteroviruses

Cross virus neutralization (VN), complement fixation (CF) and immunoprecipitation (IP) tests were employed to compare the seven currently recognized bovine enterovirus (BEV) serotypes with seven serologically distinct strains previously isolated in Great Britain and two other BEV from the United Kingdom. Based on criteria used to differentiate other human and animal picornavirus serotypes, it was discovered that BEV types 1, 4, 5 and 6 were related to each other and could be included in a single serotype. Types 3 and 7 were found to be identical, and related to serotype 2. All of the other nine BEV were included in either serotype 1 or 2. Not all of the strains in each serotype were identical and antigenic variants were designated as subtypes. Antigenic relationships not revealed by VN were demonstrated in CF and IP tests. Bovine enterovirus strains whose antisera had the broadest intratypic reactivity were suggested as prototypes. The two proposed BEV serotypes could also be distinguished by their ability to agglutinate erythrocytes. Guinea pig erythrocytes were agglutinates by both serotypes while sheep red cells only reacted with serotype 1.