Objective: To isolate and identify arboviruses from mosquito pools in some regions of Liaoning province.
Methods: Mosquitoes were collected from Shenyang, Yingkou, Panjin, Jinzhou and Dandong cities of Liaoning province in 2006. Viruses were isolated by inoculating the specimens onto C6/ 36 and BHK-21cells. The new isolates were identified using serological and molecular biological methods.
Results: 5410 mosquitoes were collected from the five cities in total. Three isolates produced CPE in C6/ 36 cell and five isolates produced CPE in both C6/36 and BHK-21 cell. Three isolates (LN0684, LN0688 and LN0689) were identified as Banna virus and one isolate (LN0636) was identified as Getah virus. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the three Banna virus strains were clustered into the same evolution branch as the other Chinese isolates. The identity of nucleotide sequence was between 91.2% and 94.7%, compared with other Banna virus strains. The new isolated Getah virus was clustered into the same branch with the strain of South Korea (swine). The identity of nucleotide sequence was 99.2%, when comparing with the strain of South Korea and was 95% to 99% with the strains from Russia, mainland of China and Taiwan region. Conclusion Eight virus isolates, including three Banna virus, one Getah virus and four unknown virus strains were isolated from mosquitoes in Liaoning province. Banna virus and Getah virus were reported for the first time in Liaoning province, while Getah virus showed the highest nucleotide homology with the South Korea strains.