Examination by chromatography and immunodiffusion of an adenovirus 3 isolated from humans with infectious hepatitis.

Prototype adenovirus 3 and adenovirus SC8, which was found in feces from a patient with infectious hepatitis and which was classified as adenovirus 3 by standard procedures, were compared by chromatography and immunodiffusion techniques. When the radioactive adenovirus moiety in SC8 had been separated from other radioactive components of tissue culture by gel filtration, a smaller infectious agent was detected, whereas with prototype adenovirus 3 one infectious agent was found. The large agent from SC8 was classified as adenovirus type 3 by serum neutralization tests, but results from homologous and heterologous immunodiffusion tests and heat sensitivity tests indicated that this agent was different from the classical prototype adenovirus 3. Similar precipitin patterns obtained in homologous and heterologous reactions by immunodiffusion suggested a similarity between the smaller particle and an unidentified agent isolated without adenoviruses from blood clots from overt cases of hepatitis. With the present evidence, it was not possible to relate the smaller agent to adeno-associated viruses; however, its similarity to an agent isolated from blood of overt cases implies a possible relationship with hepatitis. The continued recovery of the variant strain of adenovirus type 3 from patients with hepatitis, although at relatively low rates of isolation, suggested a possible undetermined relation to the disease.