DETECTION AND PRELIMINARY CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW RABBIT CALICIVIRUS RELATED TO RABBIT HEMORRHAGIC-DISEASE VIRUS BUT NONPATHOGENIC

A new rabbit calicivirus related to the rabbit hemorrhagic disease vir us (RHDV) was identified, The new virus contains significant differenc es from the previously characterized RHDV isolates in terms of pathoge nicity, viral titer, tropism, and primary sequence of the structural p rotein. Cross-protection experiments, antigenic data, and sequence com parisons demonstrate that the nem virus is more closely related to RHD V than to the European brown hare syndrome virus, another member of th e caliciviruses of the lagomorph group, The existence of a nonpathogen ic calicivirus, which we propose to name rabbit calicivirus (RCV), pro vides an explanation for the early discrepancies found in the course o f serological surveys of the rabbit population in European countries.