| 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) |