A group of viruses isolated from naturally infected mosquitoes collected in the Murray Valley area of Victoria and New South Wales

Abstract

By the inoculation of suspensions of mosquitoes on the chorio-allantoic membrane of chick embryos, seven pock-producing viruses have been isolated. The mosquitoes were collected in a small area of the Murray Valley situated in the north-western corner of Victoria and southern New South Wales. Six of the viruses were isolated from pools ofC. fatigansand one from a pool ofC. annulirostris. Five of the viruses were found to be members of the bird pox group and related to fowl-pox virus. Two of the viruses differed in the type of pock they produced on the chorio-allantoic membrane and appeared to be serologically unrelated to the other five.The interest and criticism of Sir Macfarlane Burnet, F.R.S., throughout the conduct of this work is gratefully acknowledged.