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A virus morphologically resembling members of the family Paramyxoviridae has been isolated from the brain of a piglet with a central nervous disorder accompanied by pneumonia and corneal opacity. The virus, designated LPM, grows in a large variety of cultured cell types and elicits a cytopathic effect including formation of syncytia and cytoplasmic inclusion bodies. The virus has hemagglutinating, neuraminidase and hemolytic activities. Studies on experimental transmission showed that young pigs are susceptible to infection which induced a disease similar to that in natural cases. The virus killed mice and chicken embryos. The structural proteins of LPM virus, as resolved by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis are similar to those described for other paramyxoviruses. Serologically the virus proved to be distinct from the paramyxoviruses tested so far.

Although human papillomavirus (HPV) is involved in the etiology of cervical carcinoma, there are no cervical carcinoma-specific HPV serologic tests available. We investigated the presence of broadly cross-reactive IgA antibodies to papillomavirus (PV) in cervico-vaginal secretions from patients with condylomata and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Purified bovine PV (BPV) virions were used as antigen in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Forty-two women whose ages ranged from 20 to 50 participated in the study. Eight of 9 patients with CIN had IgA antibodies against PV in their cervical secretions. Three of 9 patients with koilocytosis and condylomas but no CIN had IgA antibodies to PV. Six of 24 women with normal Pap-smear and colposcopy also had IgA antibodies against PV in their cervical secretions. The proportion of IgA-positive cervical secretions was significantly higher in the CIN group than in the normal group (p less than 0.005). Our data suggest that IgA antibodies to PV may be a useful marker for CIN.

The porcine paramyxovirus is a newly identified agent of a fatal disease in piglets, endemic in Mexico since 1980 Analysis of nucleocapsids obtained from purified virus or from a permanently infected cell line revealed one major band with an M~ of 68K, the nucleoprotein. Two other proteins were also identified, the large protein and the matrix protein, with apparent Mr of about 200K and 40K, respectively. The protein migration pattern of LPMV was compared, by SDS-PAGE, with that of Newcastle disease virus, bovine parainfluenza 3 virus and Sendai virus. Differences in the Mr of LPMV proteins and the proteins of these paramyxoviruses were observed. We propose that LPMV should be classified as a novel member of the genus Paramyxovirus.

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