Yata Virus (Family Rhabdoviridae, Genus Ephemerovirus) Isolation from Mosquitoes from Uganda, the First Reported Isolation since 1969

Lara C Perinet; John-Paul Mutebi; Ann M Powers; Julius J Lutwama; Eric C Mossel

doi:10.3390/diseases11010021

Yata Virus (Family Rhabdoviridae, Genus Ephemerovirus) Isolation from Mosquitoes from Uganda, the First Reported Isolation since 1969

Diseases. 2023 Jan 28;11(1):21. doi: 10.3390/diseases11010021.

Authors

Lara C Perinet¹, John-Paul Mutebi¹, Ann M Powers¹, Julius J Lutwama², Eric C Mossel¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA.
² Department of Arbovirology, Emerging, and Re-emerging Diseases, Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe, Uganda.

Abstract

As a part of a systematic study of mosquitoes and associated viruses in Uganda, a virus was isolated from a pool of Mansonia uniformis collected in July 2017, in the Kitgum District of northern Uganda. Sequence analysis determined that the virus is Yata virus (YATAV; Ephemerovirus yata; family Rhabdoviridae). The only previous reported isolation of YATAV was in 1969 in Birao, Central African Republic, also from Ma. uniformis mosquitoes. The current sequence is over 99% identical at the nucleotide level to the original isolate, indicating a high level of YATAV genomic stability.

Keywords: Ephemerovirus; Rhabdoviridae; arbovirus; virus discovery; virus surveillance.

Grants and funding

This research was funded in part by the Global Health Security Agenda. L.P. was funded in part by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE).