ABSTRACT
Sindbis virus was first isolated from Culex mosquitoes collected in the village of Sindbis, 30 km north of Cairo in 1952. Sporadic cases were also reported from South Africa in 1963 and Australia in 1967. Human epidemics due to Sindbis virus infection were documented in South Africa in 1974. Sindbis is the prototype virus of the genus Alphavirus in the Togaviridae family. Sindbis virus produces cytopathogenic effects in a wide variety of cell cultures, including continuous lines of VERO, HeLa, BHK-21, and also primary chicken and Pekin duck embryo cells. Since Sindbis virus can infect such a large number of different vertebrate species, other vertebrates besides birds cannot be excluded as possible animal reservoirs. In Sweden, Sindbis virus has been isolated on only three occasions. Virus isolations have been made from Culiseta sp., Cs. morsitans, and Cx. pipiens in Sweden.
