AJTMH Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 80(1), 2009, pp. 85-95
Copyright © 2009 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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Detection of RNA from a Novel West Nile-like Virus and High Prevalence of an Insect-specific Flavivirus in Mosquitoes in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico

Jose A. Farfan-Ale, Maria A. Loroño-Pino, Julian E. Garcia-Rejon, Einat Hovav, Ann M. Powers, Ming Lin, Karin S. Dorman, Kenneth B. Platt, Lyric C. Bartholomay, Victor Soto, Barry J. Beaty, Robert S. Lanciotti, AND Bradley J. Blitvich*
Laboratorio de Arbovirologia, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico; Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Genetics Development and Cell Biology, and Department of Entomology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa; Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado; Arthropod-Borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

As part of our ongoing surveillance efforts for West Nile virus (WNV) in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, 96,687 mosquitoes collected from January through December 2007 were assayed by virus isolation in mammalian cells. Three mosquito pools caused cytopathic effect. Two isolates were orthobunyaviruses (Cache Valley virus and Kairi virus) and the identity of the third infectious agent was not determined. A subset of mosquitoes was also tested by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using WNV-, flavivirus-, alphavirus-, and orthobunyavirus-specific primers. A total of 7,009 Culex quinquefasciatus in 210 pools were analyzed. Flavivirus RNA was detected in 146 (70%) pools, and all PCR products were sequenced. The nucleotide sequence of one PCR product was most closely related (71–73% identity) with homologous regions of several other flaviviruses, including WNV, St. Louis encephalitis virus, and Ilheus virus. These data suggest that a novel flavivirus (tentatively named T’Ho virus) is present in Mexico. The other 145 PCR products correspond to Culex flavivirus, an insect-specific flavivirus first isolated in Japan in 2003. Culex flavivirus was isolated in mosquito cells from approximately one in four homogenates tested. The genomic sequence of one isolate was determined. Surprisingly, heterogeneous sequences were identified at the distal end of the 5' untranslated region.

Received July 16, 2008. Accepted for publication September 30, 2008.

Acknowledgments: The authors thank the field workers from UADY (Carlos Baak, Mildred López, Carlos Estrella, Alex Ic, Roger Arana, Wilberth Chi, Hugo Valenzuela, Iván Villanueva, Jesús Miss, Rosa Cetina, Lourdes Talavera, and Roger López) for their assistance.

Financial support: This study was supported by grant 5R21AI067281-02 from the National Institutes of Health.

* Address correspondence to Bradley J. Blitvich, 2116 Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011. E-mail: blitvich{at}iastate.edu

Authors’ addresses: Jose A. Farfan-Ale, Maria A. Loroño-Pino, and Julian E. Garcia-Rejon, Laboratorio de Arbovirologia, Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Av. Itzaes No. 490 x 59, Centro, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, 97000, E-mails: jafarfan{at}uady.mx, maria.lorono{at}gmail.com, and grejon{at}tunku.uady.mx. Einat Hovav, Ming Lin, Kenneth B. Platt, Victor Soto, and Bradley J. Blitvich, Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, E-mails: ehovav{at}iastate.edu, minglin{at}iastate.edu, kbplatt{at}iastate.edu, vsoto{at}iastate.edu, and blitvich{at}iastate.edu. Ann M. Powers and Robert S. Lanciotti, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3150 Rampart Road, Fort Collins, CO 80521, E-mails: APowers{at}cdc.gov and rsl2{at}cdc.gov. Karin S. Dorman, Departments of Statistics and Genetics, Development and Cell Biology, 534 Science Hall 2, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, E-mail: kdorman{at}iastate.edu. Lyric C. Bartholomay, Department of Entomology, 442 Science Hall 2, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, E-mail: lyricb{at}iastate.edu. Barry J. Beaty, Arthropod-Borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, E-mail: bbeaty{at}colostate.edu.






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