Serological identification o f YARU isolates and bird viruses referred 
from other laboratories * At the inception of the program it soon became 
apparent that it would be necessary to identify respectable numbers of iso¬ 
lates and that reference strains of bird viruses must be stocked. Some of 
these were in the YARU collection but many more were solicited and received 
from seven laboratories involved in isolation of viruses from birds: 
University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria; Naval Medical Research Unit-3 (NAMRU-3), 
Cairo; South African Medical Research Institute (SAMRI), Johannesburg; the 
Vellore and Poona Laboratories, India; the Institute of Poliomyelitis Re¬ 
search, Moscow, USSR; the Cali Virus Laboratory, Columbia; and the Belem 
Virus Laboratory (BVL), Brazil. A list of selected viruses from birds now 
in the YARU collection is shown in Table 13. In order to properly identify 
the YARU isolates it was necessary to study in depth the antigenic character¬ 
istics of many of these referred viruses of birds. 
Bahig . This virus of the Tete group was partially described in a previous 
section. A listing of negative CF and HI results is given in Tables 14 and 15. 
Results of attempts to type 9 Tete group viruses isolated in 1968 using neutra¬ 
lization testing are shown in Table 16. 
Thimiri . This virus isolated from blood of Sylvia curruca reacted by CF 
with the Simbu grouping ascitic fluid and not with 16 other grouping ascitic 
fluids. A serum Thimiri (EgB890-3) with homologous titer of 1:1024reacted 1:16 
with Buttonwillow, 1:32 with Oropouche and 1:8 with Simbu antigens and was neg¬ 
ative with 6 others indicating that the relationship by CF to the Simbu group 
viruses was definite but not very close to any of the previously described 
members. Thimiri represents a newly-recognized member of the Simbu group. 
Neutralization tests comparing 3 strains of Thimiri virus indicate that the 
EgB890-3 strain may differ slightly from the 1963 Egypt and India isolates (Table 17). 
74 
