Acta virologica
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A new phlebovirus (Bunyaviridae family, Phlebovirus genus), provisionally designed Chizé virus, was isolated from a nymph of Ixodes (Trichotoixodes) frontalis collected on a wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) found dead in the Chizé forest, western France. Chizé virus produced a lethal encephalitis in one-day-old mice and cytopathic effect (CPE) in Vero cells. ⋯ Chizé virus reacted in complement-fixation test with several UUK serogroup viruses but was readily distinguished from all registered viruses in the serogroup. I. frontalis is highly specific for birds and unlikely to transmit Chizé virus to humans or domestic animals; the pathogenicity of the new virus to wild birds remains to be clarified.