Isolation of coxsackievirus B5 from pigs

A cytopathic virus was isolated from young pigs suffering from severe diarr hea in Okinawa, Japan in 1986. The disease was highly contagious among youn g pigs. The physico-chemical properties of the virus indicated an enterovir us, but, no of serological relationship was detected with reference strains of porcine enteroviruses. With the aid of Genbank for genomic sequence dat a, RT-PCR and hybridization method was performed. The viral isolate was ide ntified as the Coxsackievirus (CV) B5 of human enterovirus. This is the fir st report of the isolation of CV B5 from pigs in Japan.