TY - JOUR AU - Young, David AU - Kramer, Laura AU - Maffei, Joseph AU - Dusek, Robert AU - Backenson, P. Bryon AU - Mores, Christopher AU - Bernard, Kristen AU - Ebel, Gregory T1 - Molecular Epidemiology of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus, New York T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2008 VL - 14 IS - 3 SP - 454 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Perpetuation, overwintering, and extinction of eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) in northern foci are poorly understood. We therefore sought to describe the molecular epidemiology of EEEV in New York State during current and past epizootics. To determine whether EEEV overwinters, is periodically reintroduced, or both, we sequenced the E2 and partial NSP3 coding regions of 42 EEEV isolates from New York State and the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Our phylogenetic analyses indicated that derived subclades tended to contain southern strains that had been isolated before genetically similar northern strains, suggesting southern to northern migration of EEEV along the Eastern Seaboard. Strong clustering among strains isolated during epizootics in New York from 2003–2005, as well as from 1974–1975, demonstrates that EEEV has overwintered in this focus. This study provides molecular evidence for the introduction of southern EEEV strains to New York, followed by local amplification, perpetuation, and overwintering. KW - Eastern equine encephalitis virus, Alphavirus, Togaviridae, Arboviruses, epidemiology, molecular KW - research KW - New York KW - United States DO - 10.3201/eid1403.070816 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/14/3/07-0816_article ER - End of Reference