Ecology of tick-borne viruses in colonies of birds in the USSR.

During 1969--1974, 66,000 argasid and ixodid ticks from bird colonies in different parts of the USSR were studied. 247 strains of 8 different viruses were isolated. West Nile, Baku and Caspiy viruses were found from argasid ticks in the Caucasus and Middle Asia whereas ixodid ticks from seabird colonies in the North of the Far East and in the European part of the country yielded Tyuleniy, Zaliv Terpenya, Okhotskiy, Sakhalin and Paramushir viruses. The implications of the findings in the ecology of arboviruses is discussed.