Isolation of Tete serogroup bunyaviruses from Ceratopogonidae collected in Colorado
Calisher, C.H.; McLean, R.G.; Zeller, H.G.; Francy, D.B.; Karabatsos, N.; Bowen, R.A.
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 43(3): 314-318
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9637 PMID: 2221226 Document Number: 365916
Two viruses were isolated from ceratopogonid midges collected in northern Colorado, in July 1976-77. (The midges were unidentified, but Culicoides crepuscularis is the most commonly collected bird-feeding ceratopogonid found in light traps in the area). Electron microscopy indicated that both isolates were bunyavirus-like. Indirect fluorescent antibody and serum dilution-plaque reduction neutralization tests showed that these isolates were members of the Tete serogroup, most closely related antigenically to Tete and Batama viruses but distinguishable from both and from each other. The name Weldona virus is proposed for these isolates. Antibody in both waterfowl and passerine birds in northern Colorado indicates the enzootic presence of these viruses there and raises unanswered questions about the introduction and establishment of Tete serogroup viruses in the Americas.