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Infectious disease

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Togaviruses and flaviviruses

Alexey Portnov, medical expert
Last reviewed: 20.11.2021

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Togaviruses (Latin toga - raincoat) are divided into 3 genera:

alpha viruses (arboviruses of antigenic group A) with a typical species - the Sindbis virus;
ruby virus;
the only representative is the measles rubella virus: it is not an arbovirus, it is transmitted by airborne droplets;
Pestiviruses, including animal plague viruses, affecting mucous membranes, are also not arboviruses.

Flaviviruses (arboviruses of antigenic group B), typical - yellow fever virus.

All alpha- and most flaviviruses are poly-hosts and circulate in nature between vertebrates and arthropods. Among them, many are the causative agents of serious human diseases - yellow fever, hemorrhagic fevers, tick-borne and Japanese encephalitis, dengue, etc. All alphaviruses are ecologically associated with mosquitoes; Flaviviruses are associated with mosquitoes and mites, but some of them are isolated only from vertebrates.

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