ICTVdB Virus Description - 00.011.0.01.003. Akabane virus

Cite this publication as: ICTVdB Management (2006). 00.011.0.01.003. Akabane virus. In: ICTVdB - The Universal Virus Database, version 4. Büchen-Osmond, C. (Ed), Columbia University, New York, USA

Host of Isolate and Habitat Details
Source of isolate: mosquitoes, culicoid flies.

Comments on host and host range: Symptomatic infections are seen only in cattle, sheep and goats. Antibodies to the virus have also been found in horses, buffalo, deer, camels and dogs.

ICTVdB Virus Code: 00.011.0.01.003. Virus accession number: 11010003.
NCBI Taxon Identifier NCBI Taxonomy ID: 70566.

Name, Synonyms and Lineage

Nucleic Acid

Natural Host

Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Hexapoda; Class Insecta; Subclass Pterygota (winged insects), Order Diptera.

Class Mammalia Order Artiodactyla;
Family Bovidae: Subfamily Bovinae and Caprinae; virus infects Genus Bos taurus (cow, cattle, virus infects Genus Capra and Ovis .

General Symptoms in Animals Infection can affect the nervous system and reproductive system. Signs and symptoms include abortion, fetal damage, malformation, and mummification (Akabane manifests as a seasonal, sporadic epidemic of abortions, stillbirths, premature births and deformed fetuses or neonates in cattle, sheep and goats. The pregnant dam experiences no clinical symptoms at the time of infection. Infection in the first trimester produces foetal damage in utero. Dystocia may occur at parturition due to badly deformed fetuses. Badly deformed fetuses will be dead with limbs locked into flexed or extended position. The mortality rate is very high in affected newborns. Most animals die soon after birth or must be euthanized., deafness, hydrocephaly, microcephaly, paralysis (Live neonates frequently have central nervous system deficiencies manifested clinically as blindness, nystagmus, dullness, slow suckling and incoordination).

Severity and Occurrence of Disease

Transmission and Vector Relationships

Vector Transmission:
Virus is transmitted by arthropods, by insects of the order Diptera
Aedes vexans, Culex tritaeniorhynchus, C. oxystoma in Japan, Anopheles funestus in Kenya, and Culicoides milnei, C. imicola in Africa. In Australia the main vector appears to be Culicoides brevitarsis. Virus is transmitted congenitally to the progeny of the vector.

Geographical Distribution

The description has been generated automatically from DELTA files.

ICTVdB - The Universal Virus Database, developed for the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) by Dr Cornelia Büchen-Osmond, is written in DELTA. The virus descriptions in ICTVdB are coded by ICTV members and experts, or by the ICTVdB Management using data provided by the experts, the literature or the latest ICTV Report. The character list is the underlying code. All virus descriptions are based on the character list and natural language translations from the encoded descriptions are automatically generated and formatted for display on the Web.

Developer of the DELTA software: M. J. Dallwitz, T. Paine and E. Zurcher

ICTVdB and DELTA related References

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