The isolation and cultivation of calf rotavirus in the Republic of South Africa

Abstract

Calf rotavirus was cultivated and propagated in tissue culture from faeces of 3-week-old calves suffering from severe diarrhoea. Criteria for viral involvement were: production of cytopathic effect in primary foetal calf kidney cells, specific fluorescence, and identification of the agent by means of electron microscopy. In a limited serological survey the majority of the cows on an infested farm were found to possess neutralizing antibodies to the local rotavirus strain.