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Exposure of free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) in western Nebraska to selected livestock pathogens was determined by serology and attempted virus isolation. Antibodies to bluetongue virus, epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus, and bovine respiratory syncytial virus were present in both species of deer. No serologic reactors to Brucella or Anaplasma were found. Attempts to isolate bluetongue virus were negative.

Studies with the human reovirus-like (HRVL) agnet, also designated rotavirus and duovirus, have revealed that it is a major aetiological agent of diarrhoea of infants and young children in many parts of the world. In a study of patients admitted with a diarrhoeal illness to the Children's Hospital of the District of Columbia in the United States from January 1974 to June 1975, it was found that half of the patients studied by both virus shedding (by electron microscopy) and serological (complement-fixation) techniques demonstrated evidence of infection with the HRVL agent. The temporal distribution of infections with the HRVL agent followed a seasonal pattern with this agent being shed exclusively by patients admitted during the cooler months of the year. Electron microscopic examination of stools was as efficient as serological methods for detecting infection with the HRVL agent. We also initiated studies to determine the possible mode of transmission of the HRVL agent by studying contacts of hospitalized patients. We found that 35% parents of patients with HRVL infections were also infected with the HRVL agent. Serological studies revealed that the HRVL agent was antigenically related to the Nebraska Calf Diarrhoea Virus, the epizootic diarrhoea of infant mice virus, the SA-11 virus, and the "O" agent.