Scientists of the Rospotrebnadzor State Science Center for Virology and Biotechnology “Vector” discovered a new Haseki virus transmitted from tick bites in the Asian region of Russia. socialbites.ca was informed about this in the project office of the National Science and Universities project.
Analyzes showed that the virus was close to the tick-borne Bole 4 virus previously found in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. Both pathogens can be classified as members of a new genus within the flavivirus family. This is a family of viruses that are primarily transmitted by arthropods (ticks, mosquitoes) and cause diseases such as dengue fever, West Nile fever, tick-borne encephalitis, yellow fever, and others.
In Vladivostok, the first cases of infection with an unknown virus were detected after tick bites in 2011-2012. The disease was accompanied by acute respiratory syndrome and fever of 3-5 days. Tests for known viruses came back negative.
More than a decade later, scientists were able to conduct a genetic analysis of the Haseki virus. Archival serum samples from patients after tick bite in Vladivostok and adult tick and human serum samples in Novosibirsk were selected for the study.
“We found that the new Haseki virus can be transmitted from a tick to humans and exists both separately and in combination with other tick-borne infections. The candidate of biological sciences, Mikhail Kartashov, senior researcher of the Vector Center, told Gazeta.ru that the virus does not circulate in only two regions of Russia, distribution We can already say with certainty that its geography is much wider,” he said.