Isolation of "exotic" Bhanja virus (Bunyaviridae) from ticks in the temperate zone.

One strain of Bhanja virus was isolated from Dermacentor marginatus male ticks collected from sheep in Slovak Karst, eastern Czechoslovakia (48 degrees 31'N, 20 degrees 28'E). In addition, three strains of Brezová virus (subtype of Tribec orbivirus, Reoviridae) were isolated from Ixodes ricinus ticks. The result represents the northernmost isolation of Bhanja virus and, moreover, its first recovery from D. marginatus in Europe. Cross-neutralization plaque reduction test revealed antigenic similarity of the Czechoslovak strain to the south-European isolates of Bhanja virus, but a more distant relationship to virus strains isolated in Africa and Asia.