Single and mixed infections of neonatal pigs with rotaviruses and enteroviruses: clinical signs and microscopic lesions.

Neonatal colostrum-deprived pigs were inoculated with cell-culture preparations of three rotaviruses and three enteroviruses, singly or in combination. The three enteroviruses established intestinal and systemic infection but did not induce diarrhea or intestinal lesions. The three rotaviruses produced severe enteric disease characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, dehydration and death. Villi were severely stunted. All three isolates were equally virulent. Inoculation with three different rotavirus-enterovirus combinations resulted in disease less severe than that produced by the rotaviruses alone. Intestinal lesions were less extensive and fewer pigs became moribund or died.