Isolation of coxsackievirus B5 from pigs

A cytopathic virus was isolated from young pigs suffering from severe diarrhea in Okinawa, Japan in 1986. The disease was highly contagious among young pigs. The physico-chemical properties of the virus indicated an enterovirus, but, no of serological relationship was detected with reference strains of porcine enteroviruses. With the aid of Genbank for genomic sequence data, RT-PCR and hybridization method was performed. The viral isolate was identified as the Coxsackievirus (CV) B5 of human enterovirus. This is the first report of the isolation of CV B5 from pigs in Japan.