California Serogroup Viruses from Mosquitoes Collected in the USSR

The Presence and Seroprevalence of Arthropod-Borne Viruses in Nasiriyah Governorate, Southern Iraq: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The TAHV IgG titers detected in the current study were over 4-fold higher than those of the other studied orthobunyaviruses in the California serogroup (INKV and CHATV). This is consistent with the view that TAHV is widespread in Europe, 30 Russia, 31 Africa, [32][33][34][35] and Asia (southern Siberia and the Far East, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, and China), 30,[36][37][38] whereas INKV and CHATV may be restricted to northern Europe and Asia. 2,30,39 In the endemic region of Europe, approximately 5% of the general population are seropositive for TAHV, 40 and very high frequency (60-80%) of neutralizing antibodies have been reported in elderly persons in the endemic foci.…”

Molecular characterization of California serogroup viruses isolated in Russia.

“…mosquitoes collected from the Kalinin region. [10][11][12] The areas also differ ecologically. Whether these isolates, as a group or as individuals, should be considered new viruses remains to be determined.…”

“…As noted previously, the neutralization results also were inconclusive in this regard. 11 In retrospect, it is unfortunate that we conducted phylogenetic analysis on a portion of the sequence encoding the G2 instead of the G1 protein of the viruses; the latter is the viral protein that contains neutralization epitopes.…”

“…9 During epidemiologic studies to identify the CAL serogroup viruses associated with the severe CNS infections, numerous CAL serogroup viruses were isolated from mosquitoes, including 83 isolates of SSH virus, 44 isolates of INK virus, and 2 isolates of TAH virus. [10][11][12] Most of the isolates were identified by hemagglutination (HI) and plaque reduction neutralization (N) tests to be SSH, INK, or TAH virus; however, some of the isolates from mosquito in Russia (e.g., LEIV-11483, LEIV-11554, LEIV-18373, and LEIV-12812) and isolates from patients (e.g., LEIV-27044) could not be unequivocally identified as SSH or TAH virus by the HI and N tests. 11 Western blot analyses of the polymerase protein suggested that certain viruses were reassortants (Lvov D, unpublished data).…”

“…[10][11][12] Most of the isolates were identified by hemagglutination (HI) and plaque reduction neutralization (N) tests to be SSH, INK, or TAH virus; however, some of the isolates from mosquito in Russia (e.g., LEIV-11483, LEIV-11554, LEIV-18373, and LEIV-12812) and isolates from patients (e.g., LEIV-27044) could not be unequivocally identified as SSH or TAH virus by the HI and N tests. 11 Western blot analyses of the polymerase protein suggested that certain viruses were reassortants (Lvov D, unpublished data). Major genotypic changes associated with segment reassortment (antigenic shift) could have resulted in more virulent genotypes and perhaps more infections that resulted in CNS manifestations.…”