A method for the purification of rotaviruses and adenoviruses from faeces

Rotaviruses and non-cultivable enteric adenoviruses were purified from large volumes of faecal extracts using polyethylene glycol precipitation, centrifugation through 45% w/v sucrose and segregation by density in a cesium chloride density gradient. Yields were high and the preparations were pure enough to use in the production of type-specific antisera and in viral polypeptide analysis. Human rotavirus particles of density 1.38 g/ml were shown to be non-infectious for LLC-MK2 tissue culture cells.