Classification of rotaviruses: report from the World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization Comparative Virology Program.

The Reoviridae working team was established under the World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization Comparative Virology Program in 1975. The generic name rotavirus has been adopted for the reovirus-like agents associated with diarrhea in man and animals, and the Nebraska calf diarrheal virus strain of bovine rotavirus has been selected as a candidate reference virus. Stocks of this virus and of gnotobiotic calf antiserum have been prepared. Antigenic differences among rotaviruses isolated from different species were recognized on the basis of virus-neutralization tests; a possible association between antigen specificity and variation in the RNA segments and structural proteins of rotaviruses was noticed.