Bourbon Virus

Bourbon virus
Electron micrograph of the spherical form of Bourbon virus (scale bar: 100 nm)
Virus classification
Group:	Group V ((−)ssRNA)
Order:	Unassigned
Family:	Orthomyxoviridae
Genus:	Thogotovirus
Species:	Bourbon virus

Bourbon virus is an RNA virus in the genus Thogotovirus of the family Orthomyxoviridae, which is similar to Dhori virus and Batken virus. It was first identified in 2014 in a man from Bourbon County, Kansas, United States, who died after being bitten by ticks. The case is the eighth report of human disease associated with a thogotovirus globally, and the first in the Western hemisphere. As of May 2015, a case was discovered in Stillwater, Oklahoma (the patient fully recovered) and relatively little is known about the virus. No specific treatment or vaccine is available. The virus is suspected to be transmitted by ticks or insects, and avoidance of bites is recommended to reduce risk of infection.

The virus was discovered in 2014 by Olga Kosoy, Amy Lambert and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Fort Collins, Colorado, in a sample of blood from the case patient. Tests had previously ruled out a wide range of tick-borne diseases including anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Q fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia. During tests for Heartland virus, a recently discovered Phlebovirus known to be transmitted by ticks, prominent plaques, or areas where the cells were affected by virus infection, were observed on one-cell-thick cultures of African green monkey kidney cells. The plaques did not resemble the effects of Heartland virus, and the researchers hypothesized that they were the work of another virus. Examining supernatants from these cell cultures under the electron microscope revealed virus particles of different shapes, including filaments and spheres. These features are typical of viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae, such as influenza A virus.

...
Wikipedia