Development of a plaque assay for a cytopathic, rapidly replicating isolate of hepatitis A virus

Abstract

Most hepatitis A virus (HAV) replication in cell culture has been reported to be nonlytic and relatively slow. A rapidly replicating isolate of strain HM-175 from persistently infected, serially passed cell cultures (pHM-175) was found to induce a cytopathic effect. This observation allowed the development of a classic plaque assay for pHM-175 in FRhK-4 cells. The plaques were neutralized by polyclonal and monoclonal antisera to HAV.