title: Emergence of Japanese encephalitis virus genotype V in the Republic of Korea.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) genotype V reemerged in Asia (China) in 2009 after a 57-year hiatus from the continent, thereby emphasizing a need to increase regional surveillance efforts. Genotypic characterization was performed on 19 JEV-positive mosquito pools (18 pools of Culex tritaeniorhynchus and 1 pool of Cx. bitaeniorhynchus) from a total of 64 positive pools collected from geographically different locations throughout the Republic of Korea (ROK) during 2008 and 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two regions of the JEV genome were sequenced from 19 pools; the envelope gene and the nonstructural protein 5 (NS5)/3'-untranslated region (UTR). Eighteen pools of Culex tritaeniorhynchus and one pool of Cx. bitaeniorhynchus were positive for genotype I and genotype V, respectively. Sequence alignment of the complete E gene from Cx. bitaeniorhynchus showed high amino acid similarity (98.8%) to the Muar strain, characterized as the first report of genotype V, isolated from an encephalitis patient in Malaysia in 1952.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study represents the first report of JEV genotype V in the ROK. The reemergence of genotype V in Asia (China and ROK) after more than a half-century and its discovery in Cx. bitaeniorhynchus, a mosquito species previously unknown to carry JEV in the ROK, emphasizes the need for enhanced JE surveillance to monitor the dynamics of JEV strains within the region. Future findings may have implications with regard to JEV vaccination/prevention strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, United States Army Medical Component, Armed Forces, Research Institute of Medical Sciences, APO AP 96546, Bangkok, Thailand.
authors.forename: Ratree
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Takhampunya
authors.forename: Heung-Chul
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Bousaraporn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tippayachai
authors.forename: Ampornpan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kengluecha
authors.forename: Terry A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Won-Ja
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grieco
authors.forename: Brian P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Evans
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions / Q000235:genetics; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D003465:Culex / Q000821:virology*; D004664:Encephalitis Virus, Japanese / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004672:Encephalitis, Japanese / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology; D022321:Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines; D008296:Malaysia; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058889:Molecular Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D022321:Japanese Encephalitis Vaccines; D012367:RNA, Viral; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins