Eight Years of Research Advances in Bourbon Virus, a Tick-borne Thogotovirus of the Orthomyxovirus Family

Abstract

Bourbon virus (BRBV) was first isolated from a blood sample collected from a male patient living in Bourbon County, Kansas, during the spring of 2014. The patient later died because of complications associated with multiorgan failure. Several deaths due to BRBV infection have since been reported in the United States, and misdiagnosed cases are often undercounted. BRBV is a member of the genus Thogotovirus of the Orthomyxoviridae family, and is transmitted through the Lone Star tick, Amblyomma americanum, in North America. Currently, no specific antiviral agents or vaccines are available to treat or prevent BRBV infection. Several small-molecular compounds have been identified to effectively inhibit BRBV infection of in vitro cell cultures at the single- or sub-micromolar level. Favipiravir, an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitor, has been found to prevent death in type I interferon receptor knockout mice with BRBV infection.