Ord river arboviruses. Isolations from mosquitoes

Abstract

One hundred and thirty presumptive viruses have been isolated from 485 pools made from 23,872 mosquitoes collected in the Ord River area of North West Australia. One hundred and eleven of the virus isolates came from pools of Culex annulirostris, the dominant mosquito species caught in the vicinity of Kununurra. Forty five of the viruses pathogenic for newborn mice have been further characterized, 19 as Flaviviruses, 1 Alphavirus, 9 Koongol, 1 Mapputta and 15 nonhemagglutinating viruses of which 6 are Corriparta. Thirty seven isolates were from Culex annulirostris, 7 from Aedeomyia catasticta and 1 from Aedes tremulus. All Corriparta isolates were from Aedeomyia catasticta. The Flaviviruses comprised 13 Kunijn and 6 MVE isolates.