Xavier de Lamballerie, E. Javadian, Cigdem Alkan, Nourina Rahbarian, Bulent Alten, Laurence Bichaud, Nazli Ayhan, Mehdi Badakhshan, Vahideh Moin Vaziri, Rémi N. Charrel, BUISINE, Soline, European Virus Archive goes global - EVAg - - H20202015-04-01 - 2019-03-31 - 653316 - VALID, Biology and control of vector-borne infections in Europe - EDENEXT - - EC:FP7:HEALTH2011-01-01 - 2015-06-30 - 261504 - VALID, Unité des Virus Emergents (UVE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), Institut Hospitalier Universitaire Méditerranée Infection (IHU Marseille), Department of Parasitology and Mycology [Tehran, Iran] (School of Medicine), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences [Tehran, Iran], Department of Medical Entomology and Vector Control [Tehran, Iran] (School of Public Health), Tehran University of Medical Sciences-Institute of Public Health Research [Tehran, Iran], Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center [Tehran, Iran] (SBU), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences [Tehran] (SBUMS), Hacettepe University = Hacettepe Üniversitesi, Hôpital de la Timone [CHU - APHM] (TIMONE), This work was supported through funds received from EU grant FP7-261504 EDENext and this paper is catalogued by the EDENext Steering Committee (http://www.edenext.eu), the European Virus Archive goes Global (EVAg) project in the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 653316 (http://global.european- virus-archive.com/). The present article partly was supported by Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. (Grant No: 1573) The work of RNC was done under the frame of EurNegVec (TD1303) COST Action., European Project: 653316,H2020,H2020-INFRAIA-2014-2015,EVAg(2015), European Project: 261504,EC:FP7:HEALTH,FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage,EDENEXT(2011), and Shahid Beheshti University-Shahid Beheshti University
Phlebotomine sandflies are vectors of phleboviruses that cause sandfly fever or meningitis with significant implications for public health. Although several strains of these viruses had been isolated in Iran in the late 1970's, there was no recent data about the present situation at the outset of this study. Entomological investigations performed in 2009 and 2011 in Iran collected 4,770 sandflies from 10 different regions. Based on morphological identification, they were sorted into 315 pools according to species, sex, trapping station and date of capture. A phlebovirus, provisionally named Dashli virus (DASHV), was isolated from one pool of Sergentomyia spp, and subsequently DASHV RNA was detected in a second pool of Phlebotomus papatasi. Genetic and phylogenetic analyses based on complete coding genomic sequences indicated that (i) DASHV is most closely related to the Iranian isolates of Sandfly fever Sicilian virus [SFSV], (ii) there is a common ancestor to DASHV, Sandfly fever Sicilian- (SFS) and SFS-like viruses isolated in Italy, India, Turkey, and Cyprus (lineage I), (iii) DASHV is more distantly related with Corfou and Toros viruses (lineage II) although common ancestry is supported with 100% bootstrap, (iii) lineage I can be subdivided into sublineage Ia including all SFSV, SFCV and SFTV except those isolated in Iran which forms sublineage Ib (DASHV). Accordingly, we suggest to approve Sandfly fever Sicilian virus species consisting of the all aforementioned viruses. Owing that most of these viruses have been identified in human patients with febrile illness, DASHV should be considered as a potential human pathogen in Iran., Author summary Phlebotomine sandflies are vectors of phleboviruses that cause sandfly fever or meningitis with significant implications for public health. Although several strains of these viruses had been isolated in Iran in the late 1970's, there was no recent data about the present situation at the outset of this study. Entomological investigations performed in 2009 and 2011 in Iran collected 4,770 sandflies from 10 different regions. A phlebovirus, provisionally named Dashli virus (DASHV), was isolated / detected in two pools. DASHV strain was isolated in cell culture and complete genome sequence was determined. Sequence analysis indicated that (i) DASHV is most closely related to the Iranian isolates of Sandfly fever Sicilian virus [SFSV], a virus that is known to cause self-resolutive incapacitating febrile illness in humans, (ii) there is a common ancestor to DASHV and all other variants of SFSV isolated in Italy, India, Turkey, and Cyprus (lineage I), (iii) DASHV is more distantly related with Corfou and Toros viruses (lineage II) although common ancestry is supported with 100% bootstrap, (iii) lineage I can be subdivided into sublineage Ia including all SFSV strains, whereas Iranian viruses are most closely related and should be individualized as DASHV (sublineage Ib). Although discovered first in the 1940's, SFSV is still listed as "tentative species" by the International Committee for Taxonomy of Viruses. Based on the results described in this study, we propose to approve Sandfly fever Sicilian virus species. Owing that most of these viruses have been identified in human patients with febrile illness, DASHV should be considered as a potential human pathogen in Iran.