[Isolation and characterization of a new picornavirus in Taiwan]

During the 1971 outbreaks of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis, 298 cases were admitted to the Veterans General Hospital and seven strains of new picornavirus were isolated in human epidermoid carcinoma cells. Two strains of the virus isolated have been further studied. Serological neutralization indicated that these isolates might represent a distinct picornavirus group. Biophysical and biological properties determined by this study indicated that the viruses had many characteristics in common with the echoviruses such as morphological appearance, lack of essential lipids, acid stability, density in cesium chloride, sedimentation rate, growth in the presence of 5-iodo-2-deoxyuridine 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine and nonpathogenicity to suckling mice. However, they were differentiated into 2 strains on the basis of plaque size and neutralization kinetics.