DEVELOPMENT OF AN ELISA TO DETECT MX-VIRUS, A HUMAN CALICIVIRUS IN THE SNOW MOUNTAIN AGENT GENOGROUP

MX virus is a Snow Mountain agent (SMA) genogroup human calicivirus (H uCV) identified in a Mexican child with diarrhoea. An ELISA using hype rimmune antisera to the recombinant MX virus (rMX) capsid was develope d to detect SMA genogroup HuCVs in stool specimens. The rMX ELISA dete cted the prototype MX virus, SMA, and Hawaii agent (HA), but not Norwa lk virus (NV) or Sapporo virus. Twenty-three diarrhoea stool specimens from children attending day care centres in Norfolk, Virginia, were p ositive by the rMX ELISA and results were confirmed by reverse transcr iption-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Eight of 20 diarrhoea stool specimens from children in the United Kingdom previously shown to con tain small round structured viruses (SRSVs) or HuCVs by electron micro scopy were also positive by the rMX ELISA and RT-PCR. Sequence analysi s of the RT-PCR products showed that all the rMX ELISA-positive viruse s belong to the SMA genogroup. These data also showed that the SMA gen ogroup can be further divided into two subgroups: subgroup 1 includes prototypes SMA and HA, and subgroup 2 includes MX virus, minireovirus, Oth-25 and Bristol virus.