Isolation of eastern equine encephalitis virus in A549 and MRC-5 cell cultures

Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) has been diagnosed either serologically or by virus isolation. Until now, the recovery of EEE virus has been delegated to reference laboratories with the expertise and resources needed to amplify the virus in a susceptible vertebrate host and/or to isolate and identify the virus in cell culture. We report a case in which EEE virus was recovered directly from a patient's cerebrospinal fluid in A549 and MRC-5 cell cultures. Many clinical virology laboratories routinely use these cells to recover adenovirus, herpes simplex virus, and enterovirus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of isolation of EEE virus in A549 cell culture. This report demonstrates the possibility of recovery of EEE virus in cell culture without the necessity of bioamplification or maintaining unusual cell lines.