Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
Address for correspondence: Roy A. Hall, Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia. Voice: 61-7-33654647; fax: 61-7-33654620.
royboy{at}biosci.uq.edu.au
Kunjin (KUN) is a flavivirus in the Japanese encephalitis antigenic
complex that was first isolated from
Culex annulirostris mosquitoes
captured in northern Australia in 1960. It is the etiological
agent of a human disease characterized by febrile illness with
rash or mild encephalitis and, occasionally, of a neurological
disease in horses. KUN virus shares a similar epidemiology and
ecology with the closely related Murray Valley encephalitis
(MVE) virus, the major causative agent of arboviral encephalitis
in Australia. Based on traditional antigenic methods, KUN was
initially found to be similar to, but distinct from, reference
strains of West Nile (WN) virus and designated as a new species.
However, more recent phylogenic analyses have revealed that
some strains of WN virus, including the isolates from New York,
are more similar to KUN virus and form a separate lineage to
other WN viruses. An unusual KUN isolate from Malaysia and the
African virus Koutango appear to form additional lineages within
the WN group of viruses. While these findings are in agreement
with the Seventh Report of the International Committee for the
Taxonomy of Viruses that designates KUN as a subtype of West
Nile, they also suggest that the species should be further subdivided
into additional subtypes.
