key: cord-0004928-awch4g7g authors: Brown, D. W. G.; Selvakumar, R.; Daniel, D. J.; Mathan, V. I. title: Prevalence of neutralising antibodies to Berne virus in animals and humans in Vellore, South India date: 1988 journal: Arch Virol DOI: 10.1007/bf01322174 sha: 5ea032867f89d3667d6c98e5645edda3c41011ae doc_id: 4928 cord_uid: awch4g7g In Southern India the prevalence of neutralising antibody to Berne virus was high in sera obtained from cattle (49%), horses (38%), and sheep (36%). Neutralising antibody was not detected in sera from humans and monkeys. Summary. In Southern India the prevalence of neutralising antibody to Berne virus was high in sera obtained from cattle (49%), horses (38%), and sheep (36%). Neutralising antibody was not detected in sera from humans and monkeys. Berne virus was isolated from a horse with diarrhoea in 1972 in Berne (Switzerland), but not described until 1983 [10] . The demonstration of its unique morphology by electron microscopy [9] , polypeptide profile and genome expression [5, 8] , have led to the proposal that Berne virus should be the prototype strain of a new family of viruses, the Toroviridae [6, 7] . Although Berne virus has yet to be associated with any disease, Breda virus, a closely related virus, has been shown to cause diarrhoea in gnotobiotic calves and colostrum deprived calves [12] . A high prevalence of antibody to Berne virus has been demonstrated in domestic animals in Europe and the U.S.A. [11] . It has also been suggested that toroviruses may be circulating in man [2] . Torovirus-like particles were observed in human faecal specimens by electron microscopy, and these particles were clumped by antisera raised against Breda virus [2] and Berne virus [3] . We have looked for the presence of this new family of enteric viruses in South India by investigating the prevalence of neutralising antibody to Berne virus in sera collected from animals and humans. 158 sera were collected from the adult inhabitants of four villages near Veltore, 57 of whom were suffering from epidemic tropical sprue, a malabsorption syndrome of unknown aetiology [t] . 208 sera were collected from domestic animals in one of the villages, in Vellore town and from wild monkeys. All sera were stored at -20 °C until tested. Sera were tested for neutralising activity against Berne virus (Strain P138, 1972) in embryonic mule skin cells Table 1 . A high prevalence of antibody was found in cattle sera (49%), horse sera (38%) and sheep sera (36%). A low prevalence of antibody was detected in pig sera (9%) and goat sera (8%), and no antibody was dedected in the human and monkey sera tested. High titres of antibody were found in the sheep sera tested (mean 76 range 5-220), but lower titres were found in cattle sera (mean titre 14 range 5-20) and horse sera (mean titre 8.0 range 5-20). A high prevalence of antibody to Berne virus has previously been reported in animal sera from Europe [11] , and we have demonstrated that Berne related viruses are circulating in sheep, cattle and horses in South India. The prevalence of antibody reported here is significantly lower than that described in Europe, which may be related to the different methods of animal rearing. In South India individual villagers tend to own only a few animals which because of their value to the family are kept in the family compound with only limited communal grazing, in contrast to the large herds and flocks of commercial farming in Europe and the U.S.A. The degree of antigenic relatedness between different toroviruses is not known, but the finding here of low titres of Berne neutralising antibody in cattle and horses, suggests that more distantly related toroviruses may be circulating in Vellore. As in previous studies from temperate climates of blood donors [11] and veterinarians [4] we were unable to find neutralising antibody to Berne virus in the human sera tested, despite the close human-animal contacts of the villagers. In addition the finding that none of the monkey sera tested contained Berne neutralising antibody suggests that primates in general may not be susceptible to the Berne related viruses. However, this does not exclude the possibility that a serologically unrelated torovirus may be circulating in primates. Tropical sprue in Southern India An enveloped virus in the stools of children and adults with gastroenteritis that resembles the Breda virus of calves Preliminary characterisation of torovirus like particles of humans: comparison with Berne virus of horses and Breda virus of calves Detection of Breda virus antigen and antibody in humans and animals by enzyme immunoassay The nucleocapsid of Berne virus A new family of vertebrate viruses: Toroviridae Toroviridae--a taxonomic proposal. Zentralbl Veterinarmed Berne virus is not coronavirus-like Morphogenesis of Berne virus (proposed family Toroviridae) Purification and partial characterisation of a new enveloped RNA virus Antibodies to Berne virus in horses and other animals Studies with an unclassified virus isolated from diarrhoeic calves The work of this Unit is supported by The Wellcome Trust, London.