1Senior Research Fellow,
2Senior Research Fellow,
3P.G. Scholar,
4PhD Scholar,
5PhD Scholar,
6Associate Professor,
*Corresponding author: Subha Ganguly E-mail: ganguly38@gmail.com
Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a viral zoonosis that primarily affects animals but also has the capacity to infect humans. Infection can cause severe disease in both animals and humans. The disease also results in significant economic losses due to death and abortion among RVF-infected livestock. The disease is caused by RVF virus (RVFV), a member of the genus Phlebovirus in the family Bunyaviridae. Phleboviruses are class V viruses with a segmented negative-strand RNA genome. The genome comprises 3 segments, one of which uses an ambisense coding strategy. The small segment (S) codes for the viral N protein and a non structural protein, NSs. The medium sized segment (M) codes for a precursor of the viral glycoproteins and non-structural components. The product of the largest segment (L) is the viral RNA polymerase. It was first reported in livestock by veterinary officers in Kenya's Rift Valley in the early 1910s and first isolated in 1931.
RVF, Zoonosis