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We developed a simple agglutination test for the detection of porcine rotavirus in stools from pigs with diarrhea. The virus was detected with high sensitivity and specificity by a slide agglutination test using latex particles coated with antibody against the porcine rotavirus strain OSU (LA-antiOSU). The agglutination of LA-antiOSU with OSU on a glass slide was evident macroscopically within 2 min. The sensitivity of this latex agglutination (LA) test was four times higher than that of the electron microscope method. The LA test is available for the rapid diagnosis of porcine rotavirus infections.

Two field strains of avian infectious bronchitis virus were tested in specific pathogen-free chickens for interferon induction, growth and stimulation of virus-neutralizing antibody. Both strains induced interferon in lungs and trachea and neither strain induced it in kidneys. Strain Kagoshima-34, isolated from the kidneys of a chicken that had died of nephrosis/nephritis, induced interferon earlier than Strain Tottori-2, which was isolated from the trachea of a chicken with respiratory disease. Virus growth was generally more prolonged with Kagoshima-34, especially in the kidneys, but Tottori-2 persisted longer in the lungs.

The pathogenicity for chickens of 91 strains of avian influenza A virus isolated from such free-living waterfowl as whistling swan, pintail, tufted duck, mallard and black-tailed gull in Japan was tested. The majority of the virus strains infected and were pathogenic for the chickens. The virulence of these viruses seemed not to be as high as that of fowl plague virus. There were no significant differences in the intracerebral index score among the viruses belonging to the same subtype, irrespective of year of isolation or host.