Akabane disease is caused by an arthropod-borne viral pathogen and leads congenital abnormalities of the central nervous system in infected ruminants. One isolate, KV0505, showed cytopathic effect in Vero cells. The KV0505 isolate was obtained from plasma, which was collected from a cattle raised on Jeju Island in May 2005. Jeju Island is located near the southern part of the Korean peninsula. The isolate was confirmed as Akabane virus (AKAV) by immunofluorescence assay using AKAV specific monoclonal antibodies and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Suckling mice inoculated with the isolate showed signs of paralysis and died within 10 days post-inoculation. Comparisons of the KV0505 N gene sequence with 39 other known AKAV strains revealed nucleotide homologies ranging from 83.6% (MP496 strain) to 99.7% (M171 strain). When compared with the K-9 strain, which was isolated from a cow in Korea in 1994, the nucleotide sequence homology with the N gene was 99.7%. Thus, genes of the KV0505 isolate were closely related to those of the M171 strain, which were clustered into the Ic group of AKAV.

Akabane and bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) viruses cause vector - borne diseases. In this study, inactivated Akabane virus (AKAV)+Bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) vaccines with or without recombinant vibrio flagellin (revibFlaB) protein were expressed in a baculovirus expression system to measure their safety and immunogenicity. Blood was collected from mice, guinea pigs, sows, and cattle that had been inoculated with the vaccine twice. Inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine induced high virus neutralizing antibody (VNA) titer against AKAV and BEFV in mice and guinea pigs. VNA titers against AKAV were higher in mice and guinea pigs immunized with the inactivated AKAV+ BEFV vaccine than in animals inoculated with vaccine containing revibFlaB protein. Inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine elicited slightly higher VNA titers against AKAV and BEFV than the live AKAV and live BEFV vaccines in mice and guinea pigs. In addition, the inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine was safe, and induced high VNA titers, ranging from 1 : 64 to 1 : 512, against both AKAV and BEFV in sows and cattle. Moreover, there were no side effects observed in any treated animals. These results indicate that the inactivated AKAV+BEFV vaccine could be used in cattle with high immunogenicity and good safety.