Experimental infection of specific-pathogen-free chickens with avian rotaviruses.

One-to-70-day-old specific-pathogen-free chickens were infected with rotaviruses isolated from chickens, turkeys, and pheasants. Chicks infected at 1 or 7 days of age remained largely free of infection: virus could be isolated from a few chicks of these ages, but virus antigen could not be detected in the epithelial cells of the intestinal villi. Treating the virus with trypsin before inoculation did not markedly enhance virus infectivity. The same batches of virus successfully infected chickens at 56 and 70 days of age: virus could be isolated between 1 and 5 days postinfection, and virus antigen was detected in the epithelial cells of the intestinal villi. Rotaviruses isolated from pheasants were infectious for 49-day-old chickens. All infections in the older chickens remained subclinical.