LeDantec virus: identification as a rhabdovirus associated with human infection and formation of a new serogroup.

LeDantec virus, originally recovered in 1965 from a patient with a febrile illness in Senegal, was observed by thin section electron microscopy to be bullet-shaped, representative of members of the rhabdovirus group, with mean dimensions of 164 X 78 nm. Particles were observed budding from the plasma membrane and moderate numbers accumulated in the intercellular spaces. In three mammalian cell lines, LeDantec virus was rapidly cytopathic and replicated to moderately high titres. In complement fixation tests with other known rhabdoviruses, LeDantec was found to be related to Keuraliba virus, a previously ungrouped agent isolated from rodents in Senegal in 1968. We propose the formation of a new LeDantec serogroup comprising these two viruses.