CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIGENIC RELATIONSHIP OF 3 NEW BUNYAVIRUS IN THE ANOPHELES A-SEROGROUP (BUNYAVIRIDAE) OF ARBOVIRUSES

The isolation and characterization of three new viruses obtained from the Tucurui hydroelectric dam region is reported. These three agents belong to the Anopheles A serogroup, genus Bunyavirus, Bunyaviridae. The Tucurui (TUC), Caraipe (CPE) and Arumateua (ART) viruses have close relationships with each other and with Trombetas (TBT) virus, an Anopheles A virus previously isolated in the Amazon Region of Brazil. These viruses form the "Trombetas complex". TUC, CPE and ART viruses were obtained from pools of Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) sp captured in Tucurui, Para State, in February, August and October of 1984, respectively. Until 1990 TUC, CPE and ART were isolated 12, 32 and 28 times respectively, in the Tucurui hydroelectric dam region. At the moment, these viruses have only been obtained from mosquitoes of the Anopheles (Nyssorhynchus) complex, especially from An. (Nys.) nuneztovari and An. (Nys.) triannulatus, that are considered to be secondary vectors of Plasmodium in Amazonia. Serological tests performed with human and wild animal sera were negative, except for one specimen Nasua nasua that had neutralization antibodies to TUC.