Cape Wrath: a New Kemerovo Group Orbivirus from Ixodes Uriae (Agari: Ixodidae) in Scotland

• Published in: Journal of Medical Entomology
• Main Authors: Main, A. J., Shope, R. E., Wallis, R. C.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 1976
• Subjects: Articles; Canada; Common Murre; fratercula; Fratercula arctica; Newfoundland; Oceanodroma leucorhoa
• Online Access: http://jme.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/13/3/304; https://doi.org/10.1093/jmedent/13.3.304

Cape Wrath virus is a new member of the Kemerovo serogroup of orbiviruses, isolated from an engorged female Ixodes uriae collected from a Common Murre ( Una aalge ) colony in northern Scotland during June 1973. This agent cross-reacts by complement-fixation, but not by neutralization, with other viruses of the Kemerovo-Tribec complex that have been recovered from I. uriae in other parts of the world. Cape Wrath virus is sensitive to acidic pH (3.0), partially sensitive to sodium deoxycholate, and relatively resistant to ether and chloroform. The virus kills suckling, but not weanling, mice by intracerebral and intraperitoneal inoculation. No evidence of infection was detected in baby chicks inoculated intracerebrally or subcutaneously. Virus did not multiply in Aedes aegypti, Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus , or Anopheles quadrimaculatus following intrathoracic inoculation. Little, if any, specific neutralizing antibody against Cape Wrath virus was detected in sera from Fratercula arctica, Oceanodroma leucorhoa, Larus argentatus , and Larus marinus collected in Newfoundland, Canada.