Isolation of Tete serogroup bunyaviruses from Ceratopogonidae collected in Colorado

Abstract

Two viruses were isolated from ceratopogonid midges collected in northern Colorado. Electron microscopy indicated that both isolates were bunyavirus-like. Indirect fluorescent antibody and serum dilution-plaque reduction neutralization tests showed that these isolates were members of the Tete serogroup, most closely related antigenically to Tete and Batama viruses but distinguishable from both and from each other. We suggest the name Weldona virus for these isolates. Antibody in both waterfowl and passerine birds in northern Colorado indicates the enzootic presence of these viruses in northern Colorado and raises unanswered questions about the introduction and establishment of Tete serogroup viruses in the Americas.