Co-circulation of distinct shrew-borne hantaviruses in the far east of Russia.

Insectivores are the new emerging reservoir of hantaviruses. Here, we describe Lena virus (LENV), a novel hantavirus harbored by the Laxmann`s shrew (Sorex caecutiens), which is also the host of Artybash virus (ARTV). Genetic analysis of the complete genomic sequence shows that LENV is in distant relation to ARTV and other Sorex-borne hantaviruses, suggesting that LENV has emerged from cross-species transmission.

Tick-borne encephalitis virus in arthropod vectors in the Far East of Russia.

Isolates of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) from arthropod vectors (ticks and mosquitoes) in the Amur, the Jewish Autonomous and the Sakhalin regions as well as on the Khabarovsk territory of the Far East of Russia were studied. Different proportions of four main tick species of the family Ixodidae: Ixodes persulcatus P. Schulze, 1930; Haemaphysalis concinna Koch, 1844; Haemaphysalis japonica douglasi Nuttall et Warburton, 1915 and Dermacentor silvarum Olenev, 1932 were found in forests and near settlements.

Molecular evidence of Coxiella-like microorganism harbored by Haemaphysalis concinnae ticks in the Russian Far East.

Twenty female imago of Haemaphysalis concinnae ticks collected from wild vegetation in May of 2001 in the Obor region near Khabarovsk in the Russian Far East were studied. DNA was extracted with commercially available kits following manufacturer's instructions. We used broad range primers SFG3 and SFG6 proposed for amplification of 16S ribosomal RNA gene's portion of spotted fever group Rickettsia.