Biliary Atresia and Reovirus Type 3 Infection

NEONATAL biliary atresia was originally thought to be a developmental malformation. However, microscopical examination of bile ducts resected during portoenterostomy has revealed inflammatory lesions suggesting an ongoing postnatal process such as infection.1 , 2 Viral isolation and serologic studies have usually been negative except for an occasional case associated with cytomegalovirus or congenital rubella infection.3 4 5 6 Our interest in reovirus type 3 (reo-3) as a potential cause of biliary atresia was stimulated by the observations of Stanley et al.7 They described chronic obstructive jaundice in mice, associated with choledochal obliteration that followed intraperitoneal injection of reo-3 into weanling animals.8 Although hepatic injury is . . .