Babanki virus is a member of the virus family Togaviridae

Togaviridae

The Togaviridae are a family of viruses, including the following genera:* Genus Alphavirus; type species: Sindbis virus, Eastern equine encephalitis virus, Western equine encephalitis virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, Ross River virus, O'nyong'nyong virus, Chikungunya* Genus Rubivirus;...

of Class IV of the Baltimore classification system

Baltimore classification

The Baltimore classification, developed by David Baltimore, is a virus classification system that groups viruses into families, depending on their type of genome and their method of replication....

 and the genus Alphavirus

Alphavirus

In biology and immunology, an alphavirus belongs to the group IV Togaviridae family of viruses, according to the system of classification based on viral genome composition introduced by David Baltimore in 1971. Alphaviruses, like all other group IV viruses have a positive sense single stranded RNA...

.

Genome and Structure

It has an unsegmented, positive sense, single-stranded RNA genome which is approximately 11.7kb long. In general, members of the Togaviridae have genomes which are able to be used directly as mRNA and the genome of BBKV can code for both structural and non-structural proteins. Currently, the genome of BBKV has only been partially sequenced. It has a spherical nucleocapsid which is approximately 40 nm in diameter and shows icosahedral symmetry of T=4. This nucleocapsid core is surrounded by a lipid

Lipid

Lipids constitute a broad group of naturally occurring molecules that include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins , monoglycerides, diglycerides, triglycerides, phospholipids, and others...

 envelope covered with glycoprotein

Glycoprotein

Glycoproteins are proteins that contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to polypeptide side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glycosylation. In proteins that have segments extending...

 spikes and virion particles are approximately 70 nm in diameter in total http://phene.cpmc.columbia.edu/ICTVdB/73001B24.htm.

Disease

BBKV was first isolated in Babanki in Northwest Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

, Africa in 1969 http://phene.cpmc.columbia.edu/ICTVdB/73001B24.htm and the disease is also known in Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

 and Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 http://bugsmart.com.au/content/view/22/51/. It is closely related to another Alphavirus, Sindbis virus

Sindbis virus

Sindbis Virus is a member of the Togaviridae family, in the alphavirus subfamily. The virus was first isolated in 1952 in Cairo, Egypt. The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes SINV causes sindbis fever in humans and the symptoms include arthralgia, rash and malaise...

 and causes similar symptoms in humans like fever, arthralgia or joint pain and a rash. It is spread by an arthropod

Arthropod

An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton , a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods are members of the phylum Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others...

 vector, typically mosquito

Mosquito

Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...

es of the genus Culex and in this way, may be described as an Arbovirus

Arbovirus

Arbovirus is a term used to refer to a group of viruses that are transmitted by arthropod vectors. The word arbovirus is an acronym . Some arboviruses are able to cause emergent disease.-Transmission:...

http://www.diseasesdatabase.com/ddb32204.htm. Its normal host is birds http://www.online-medical-dictionary.org/Babanki+virus.asp?q=Babanki+virus.