SUMMARY: A virus isolated from cattle in Scotland does not seem to have been described previously as existing in Europe. The virus has been provisionally designated bovine mammillitis virus (BMV). It grows in tissue cultures, particularly of bovine origin, giving rise to large multinucleate cells which have type A inclusions in many of their nuclei. Baby mice injected with it develop skin lesions, but only a limited number of passages can be made. The BMV particle has a nucleocapsid of about 80 mμ diameter which, in complete particles, is surrounded by a loose envelope. The virus is sensitive to ether and chloroform, and contains DNA with a base composition of 64% G+C and a band-width molecular weight of 34×106. BMV shows antigenic similarity, in neutralization tests and double-diffusion tests in agar, to the group II viruses (prototype Allerton) of lumpy skin disease (Alexander, Plowright & Haig, 1957). All these features place it in the family of the herpesviruses.
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