Abstract
Kyasanur Forest disease virus (KFDV) from India and Alkhurma hemorrhagic fever virus (AHFV) from Saudi Arabia and surrounding regions have a very high degree of genomic homology. Accordingly, AHFV is classified as a subset of KFDV. Both groups are unusual in that they can cause severe neurological disease and hemorrhagic fever, sometimes in a single patient. The tick vectors are Haemaphysalis species (for KFDV) and Hyalomma rufipes and Amblyomma ticks (for AHFV). Their major reservoir hosts are rats, squirrels, and shrews (KFDV) and camels, cattle, and birds (AHFV). They are transmitted by tick bite or contact with an infected reservoir host. AHFV is also transmitted by raw milk from infected camels or sheep. An ancestral virus for KFDV and AHFV may have been transported along the Silk Road by camel ticks centuries ago. Several close relatives of KFDV/AHFV from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan may be “missing links” between KFDV and AHFV.
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