Fig 1. Germ-free and antibiotic-treated mice are highly susceptible to oral infection with rotavirus.

Conventional specific pathogen free (SPF, n = 10), antibiotic-treated (Abx, n = 9) and germ-free (GF, n = 8) C57BL/6 mice were infected orally with 2.4x10⁴ ID₅₀ of murine rotavirus strain EDIM. Fecal pellets of individual mice were collected daily and levels of viral antigen were determined by ELISA. Four animals of the Abx and the GF groups were sacrificed on day 3 post-infection for analysis of tissue in the context of a different project.