Peculiarities of Circulation of Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis Virus (Scientific Review)

Reviewed are some peculiarities of circulation of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus (VEE), the enzootic strains of which play an increasingly important part as etiological agents of human infections nowadays. The majority of VEE cases among the residents of the endemic regions within the inter-epidemic period are caused by the ID subtype of VEE that includes 6 genotypes. Isolated from humans have been the genotypes Columbia/Venezuela, Panama/Peru, and Peru/Bolivia, ID subtype of VEE. Possibility of emergence of new VEE outbreaks is associated with ID subtype mutation into the IC subtype, which is assumed to be a potential threat as etiological agent of the disease at present.