[Biological and molecular genetic characteristics of a Far-Eastern tick-borne encephalitis virus population and its pathogenetic implication].

The authors have got an idea of the structure of the tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus population forming in the human body after tick bite in the south of the Far East. A hundred and forty-five antigen-positive samples were virologically studied in enzyme immunoassays. Human blood leukocytic virus isolation on the first day of tick suction testified to the capacity of the virus to adsorb and multiply just in the peripheral blood immunocompetent cells. The bulk (as high as 70%) of the TBE virus population was non-neuroinvasive strains, most of which could rapidly eliminate from man and albino mice. The neuroinvasive strains (as high as 30%) caused encephalitis in albino mice and different TBE forms (inapparent, feverish, focal). The sequences of 160 bp fragment of glycoprotein E gene of 24 strains have shown that they belong to one Far Eastern subtype of TVE virus.