Peroxidase-labeled antibody technique for rapid detection of mouse hepatitis virus in cases of natural outbreaks.

A recent outbreak of hepatitis in mice at the Laboratory Animals Centre (Surrey, England) is described. The only strains of mice that showed clinical symptoms and typical liver lesions were the nude (nu/nu) and obese mice. Although other inbred strains showed no clinical symptoms, all strains seroconverted. Neutralization typing of the mouse hepatitis virus showed it to be type 1, a hepatotropic strain of low virulence, a finding that was consistent with the pathology of the disease. Because of recurring outbreaks of disease caused by this strain and other strains of MHV in the United Kingdom, a rapid method for diagnosis in tissue culture was devised, employing the peroxidase enzyme-labeled antibody technique for detection of mouse hepatitis virus in L-929 cells.