In 1999, two viruses were isolated from blood samples of sentinel cattle in Okayama Prefecture. Although, the physiochemical and morphological properties of these viruses indicated that they belong to the family Bunyaviridae, they were distinguished from Akabane and Aino viruses in serological tests. Recently, nucleotide sequences of many viruses have become available, providing genetic information that can be useful in clarifying the genetic position of the newly isolated viruses. Sequence analysis of the S segment indicated that the two viruses are genetically identical and both of them are closely related to Sathuperi virus (SATV) (97.6% nucleotide sequence identity) of Simbu serogroup of the genus Orthobunyavirus. The N-terminal 168 amino acid of the G2 protein of the M segment was highly homologous with that of SATV (98.2%). Given these results, we concluded that the newly isolated viruses are identified as SATV, which was initially isolated in 1957 in India and later obtained from cattle and Culicoides biting midges in Nigeria. This study also showed that SATV is of wide distribution throughout Africa to Asia.
(Clinical Virology Section, Kyushu Research Station TEL +81-99-268-2078)
References:
Yanase et al. (2004) Arch. Virol. 149:1007-1013.
