Purification and concentration of viruses associated with transmissible (coronaviral) enteritis of turkeys (bluecomb)

Purification and concentration of viruses contained in pathogenic material was accomplished by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. Electron microscopy was also performed. Viruses recovered from intestinal preparations of both affected and unaffected turkey poults had a density of 1.16 to 1.17. The viruses resembled myxoviruses, paramyxoviruses, or oncornaviruses morphologically. In addition, preparations from bluecomb-affected poults were found to contain viruses indistinguishable from known coronaviruses. No such virus particles were seen in the control preparations. Data are presented to indicate an etiologic relationship between the coronavirus and transmissible enteritis of turkeys.