Transmission of rotavirus gastroenteritis from children to a monkey

Abstract

A pooled suspension of rotavirus was prepared from the stools of eight children with acute non-bacterial gastroenteritis. The suspension was infused into the duodenum and stomach of an infant monkey (Nemestrina macaque). Biopsy samples of duodenal mucosa were taken at several intervals after inoculation, examined by light and electron microscopy, and assayed for lysosomal activity. Virus-like particles were seen within and around microvilli and intracellularly within vesicles as early as 20 minutes after the infusion. On the fourth and fifth days, large lysosomal bodies containing numerous virus-like particles were found within epithelial cells of the duodenal villi. No such particles were seen in the pre-inoculation sample or at days 16 or 25 after infection. The present study would appear to be the first demonstration of the transmission of this human virus to another species.