A proposed division of the pestivirus genus using monoclonal antibodies, supported by cross-neutralisation assays and genetic sequencing.

Sixty-six pestiviruses from ruminant and porcine hosts were analysed with a panel of 76 monoclonal antibodies raised against 9 different viruses. Reactivity was used to construct epitope similarity maps for all of the viruses. Four principal virus subgroups were demonstrated. One subgroup equated to classical swine fever virus (CSFV) and included most porcine pestiviruses but none from ruminants. A second subgroup contained mainly viruses of bovine origin, including reference bovine viral diarrhoea viruses (BVDV) such as NADL; however viruses from pigs and sheep were also represented. A third subgroup represented by reference strains of border disease virus (BDV) comprised mainly ovine isolates, but also viruses from pigs. The fourth and most recently defined subgroup contained no reference strains of CSFV, BVDV or BDV, but included atypical viruses from cattle, sheep and pigs. The subgrouping scheme was supported by genetic comparisons between representative viruses from the 4 subgroups and by virus neutralisation with polyclonal sera.