TY - JOUR AU - Weissenböck, Herbert AU - Kolodziejek, Jolanta AU - Url, Angelika AU - Lussy, Helga AU - Rebel-Bauder, Barbara AU - Nowotny, Norbert T1 - Emergence of Usutu virus, an African Mosquito-Borne Flavivirus of the Japanese Encephalitis Virus Group, Central Europe T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2002 VL - 8 IS - 7 SP - 652 SN - 1080-6059 AB - During late summer 2001 in Austria, a series of deaths in several species of birds occurred, similar to the beginning of the West Nile virus (WNV) epidemic in the United States. We necropsied the dead birds and examined them by various methods; pathologic and immunohistologic investigations suggested a WNV infection. Subsequently, the virus was isolated, identified, partially sequenced, and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. The isolates exhibited 97% identity to Usutu virus (USUV), a mosquito-borne Flavivirus of the Japanese encephalitis virus group; USUV has never previously been observed outside Africa nor associated with fatal disease in animals or humans. If established in central Europe, this virus may have considerable effects on avian populations; whether USUV has the potential to cause severe human disease is unknown. KW - Usutu virus KW - Flavivirus KW - avian mortality KW - Austria KW - pathology KW - virology DO - 10.3201/eid0807.020094 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/7/02-0094_article ER - End of Reference