We isolated 17 viral strains capable of causing cytopathic effects in mammalian cells and death in neonatal mice from sand flies in China. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these strains belonged to the genus Phlebovirus. These findings highlight the need to control this potentially emerging virus to help safeguard public health.
Keywords: Bunyavirales; Corfu virus; PCR; Phlebotomus chinensis; Toros virus; Wuxiang virus; amino acid sequences; nucleotide sequences; phleboviruses; polymerase chain reaction; sand flies; sand fly–borne phlebovirus; vector-borne infections; viruses.