Isolation of West Nile Virus from Mosquitoes, Crows, and a Cooper's Hawk in Connecticut

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 286; no. 5448; pp. 2331 - 2333
• Main Authors: Anderson, John F., Andreadis, Theodore G., Vossbrinck, Charles R., Tirrell, Shirley, Wakem, Edward M., French, Richard A., Garmendia, Antonio E., Van Kruiningen, Herbert J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for the Advancement of Science 17-12-1999; American Association for the Advancement of Science; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Accipiter; Accipiter cooperii; Aedes - virology; Aedes vexans; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Bird Diseases - epidemiology; Bird Diseases - virology; Birds; Brain; Brain - virology; Connecticut - epidemiology; Corvus brachyrhynchos; Counties; Crows; Culex - virology; Culex pipiens; Culicidae; Culicidae - virology; Encephalitis; Epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genome, Viral; Hawks; Humans; Insect carriers of disease; Insect Vectors - virology; Insects as carriers of disease; Maximum Likelihood Statistics; Medical research; Medically important nuisances and vectors, pests of stored products and materials: population survey and control; Microbiology; Mosquitoes; Mosquitoes as carriers of disease; Mosquitos; Municipalities; Parsimony; Phylogeny; Raptors - virology; Romania; Saint Louis encephalitis; Songbirds - virology; Towns; USA, Connecticut; Vectors. Intermediate hosts; Vero cells; Virology; Viruses; West Nile fever; West Nile Fever - epidemiology; West Nile Fever - veterinary; West Nile Fever - virology; West Nile virus; West Nile virus - classification; West Nile virus - genetics; West Nile virus - isolation & purification; United States; North America; America; Connecticut; Romania; USA, Connecticut; Asia; Europe; Africa; Insecta; Culex pipiens; Flavivirus; Raptor; Virus; Vertebrata; Corvus brachyrhynchos; Arthropoda; Animal; West Nile virus; Culicidae; Aedes vexans; Molecular epidemiology; Isolation; Japanese encephalitis group virus; Aves; Flaviviridae; Invertebrata; Vector; Diptera
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5448.2331

West Nile (WN) virus, a mosquito-transmitted virus native to Africa, Asia, and Europe, was isolated from two species of mosquitoes, Culex pipiens and Aedes vexans, and from brain tissues of 28 American crows, Corvus brachyrhynchos, and one Cooper's hawk, Accipiter cooperii, in Connecticut. A portion of the genome of virus isolates from four different hosts was sequenced and analyzed by comparative phylogenetic analysis. Our isolates from Connecticut were similar to one another and most closely related to two WN isolates from Romania (2.8 and 3.6 percent difference). If established in North America, WN virus will likely have severe effects on human health and on the health of populations of birds.