An Apparently New Enterovirus Isolated from Patients with Disease of the Central Nervous System

An apparently new enterovirus was isolated in California from more than 20 patients with central nervous system (CNS) disease during the past four years; one strain was isolated from the brain of a fatal case of encephalitis. The representative BrCr strain had the physicochemical properties of an enterovirus. The human origin of the virus strains was confirmed by the reisolation from the original clinical specimens and the demonstration of increases in neutralizing antibody in patients from whom virus was isolated. Cross-neutralization and immunodiffusion tests indicated that the virus was distinct from the currently recognized enteroviruses of man. A few strains in the group were weakly pathogenic in suckling mice and produced symptoms similar to those produced by group A coxsackieviruses. A number of the strains required treatment with sodium deoxycholate to disaggregate the virus before neutralization could be demonstrated with homologous antiserum.