Isolation and genomic characterization of Chaoyang virus strain ROK144 from Aedes vexans nipponii from the Republic of Korea

During June 2003, mosquito surveillance was conducted at a US Army installation and a US Military training site 2 km south of the demilitarized zone, Republic of Korea. Mosquitoes were collected using Mosquito Magnets™, sorted to species, and assayed for the presence of arboviruses. From the 3,149 mosquitoes that were sorted into 126 pools, one Aedes vexans nipponii pool (out of 73 pools) tested positive for flavivirus RNA by reverse transcription-PCR. After isolation from C6/36 cell culture supernatant, the viral genome was sequenced and found to be 98.9% related to Chaoyang virus, a potential arthropod-specific flavivirus. This report details the first identification of Chaoyang virus in the Republic of Korea and highlights its relationship to other flaviviruses.

► First isolation of an insect flavivirus from the Republic of Korea.
► Chaoyang virus (ROK-144) was isolated from Aedes vexans nipponii, a known vector of medically relevant viruses.
► Chaoyang virus aligns more closely with medically relevant flaviviruses.