OBJECTIVEThe purpose of this article is to review the developments of studies of Coltivirus in China.

DATA SOURCESThe data used in this review was obtained mainly from the studies of Coltivirus reported from 1990 to 2003 in China.

STUDY SELECTIONRelevant articles on studies of Coltivirus in domestic and foreign literature were selected.

DATA EXTRACTIONData were maily extracted from the articles which are listed in the reference section of this review.

RESULTSMany Coltiviruses have been isolated not only from blood samples of patients with unknown fever or from cerebrospinal fluid of patients with encephalitis in Xishuangbanna area in Yunnan province, but also from mosquitoes collected in many areas in China. In some patients diagnosed as Japanese encephalitis or unknown fever, an increase of Coltivirus IgG antibody of fourfold, or more, has been detected using ELISA. Similarly, Coltivirus IgM antibody was positive in some patients with Japanese encephalitis or viral encephalitis. From most Chinese patients, except the northeastern, the isolates of Coltiviruses belong to subgroup B2, according to RT-PCR amplification of the ninth and twelfth segments of the isolates and sequence analysis of their amplicons. Some biological properties of Chinese Coltiviruses isolates are different from that of North American Coltiviruses.

CONCLUSIONSThe isolates of Coltiviruses from Chinese patients are one of the common agents causing viral encephalitis and unknown fever in summer-autumn season. It might be an important public health problem due to its high isolation rate and wide distribution in China. Mosquito is the main transmission vector of the virus.