The discovery of the 27-nm Norwalk virus: an historic perspective

In 1972, a 27-nm virus-like particle was discovered by use of immune electron microscopy (IEM) in an infectious stool filtrate derived from an outbreak of gastroenteritis in an elementary school in Norwalk, Ohio. IEM enabled the direct visualization of antigen-antibody interaction, as the particles were aggregated and coated by specific antibodies. This allowed the recognition and identification of a 27-nm virus-like particle that did not have a distinctive morphology, was low-titered, and was among the smallest viruses known. Serum antibody responses to the 27-nm particle were demonstrated in key individuals infected under natural or experimental conditions; this and other evidence suggested that this virus-like particle was the etiologic agent of the Norwalk gastroenteritis outbreak. The fastidious 27-nm Norwalk virus is now considered to be the prototype strain of a group of noncultivatable viruses that are important etiologic agents of epidemic gastroenteritis in adults and older children.