Credit: Viruses 2024, 16(2), 261
A new study published in Viruses has reclassified a virus found in Senegal that was once classified as an Ilesha virus. Genomic sequencing has shown it to be the Bataï virus, the first indication of its presence in West Africa.
The Bataï virus is transmitted by mosquitoes and has been linked with fever, headaches, joint pains, and neurological symptoms in humans and animals. It’s found in Asia and Europe, but in Africa has only been confirmed in Uganda.
Researchers of the Viruses study performed whole genome sequencing on a strain obtained from the biobank of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar. The virus was isolated from a mosquito researchers carried out a genetic distance analysis – a method used to measure the genetic divergence between species or between populations in a species – between the Bataï strains and found that the African strains were more genetically similar to the ones found in Asia.
This discovery emphasises the importance of retrospective genetic virus sequencing to refine their classification and pinpoint potential disease-causing agents.
