Isolation and Characterization of Feline Rotavirus

Abstract

Feline rotavirus was detected by EM in the fecal samples of a cat and was propagated in an established cell line of fetal rhesus monkey kidney, MA104, cell cultures. Morphologically, feline rotavirus was indistinguishable from known rotaviruses. Complete particles showed a characteristic spoke-like arrangement of inner capsomeres surrounded by an outer layer. Intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in different sizes and shapes were produced in infected MA104 cells. Reproducible, clear-cut plaques were produced by feline rotavirus in MA104 cells under the overlay of CM-cellulose in the presence of trypsin. Feline rotavirus was distinct from human, canine, bovine, porcine and simian rotaviruses by the plaque reduction neutralization test. Feline rotavirus, like canine and simian rotaviruses, was less dependent upon trypsin than human, bovine, porcine, chicken and turkey rotaviruses. A seroepidemiological survey (Sept. 1979-Aug. 1980) showed that 20 of 61 (32.8%) randomly sampled hospitalized cats at the Cornell Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Ithaca, New York, USA, had antibody titers against feline rotavirus. Oral inoculation of cats with feline rotavirus did not produce any clinical disease but most cats did mount an immune response to the virus following inoculation.