Mosquitoes collected in northern Italy were screened for flavivirus RNA. Positive amplicons were sequenced and found most similar to insect flavivirus (ISF), Usutu virus (USUV) and surprisingly also to Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). The sequence (167 bp), obtained from one pool of Culex pipiens, was found identical to JEV strains from bats in China. Unfortunately additional sequence data or virus isolations were not obtained in this study. Confirmation of potential introduction of JEV to Italy and other European countries is urgently needed.

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In 2009, 2589 mosquitoes were collected in northwest Italy and screened for orthobunyavirus RNA by RT-PCR. One pool of Anopheles maculipennis complex mosquitoes was found to be positive and a virus was isolated from that pool. The isolate was identified as Batai virus (BATV) by sequencing. Previously, BATV was detected in Italy, but limited data and no prior isolates existed. Full-length sequences of the S, M and L segments were determined for the newly isolated Italian strain. For comparison, partial sequences were also determined for the BATV strain Calovo (former Czechoslovakia, 1960). Phylogenetic analyses revealed clustering of the newly derived Italian BATV along with a recent isolate from Germany and the historic strain Calovo. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first isolation of BATV from Italy, which confirms a broader geographical distribution of BATV in Europe than was previously verified by isolation.

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