Emerg Infect DiseidEmerging Infectious Diseases1080-60401080-6059Centers for Disease Control115855442631769Research ArticleIsolation and characterization of West Nile virus from the blood of viremic patients during the 2000 outbreak in Israel.HindiyehM.ShulmanL. M.MendelsonE.WeissL.GrossmanZ.BinH.Israel Ministry of Health, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, 52621, Israel.Jul-Aug200174748750

We report the isolation of West Nile (WN) virus from four patient serum samples submitted for diagnosis during an outbreak of WN fever in Israel in 2000. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis revealed two lineages, one closely related to a 1999 New York isolate and the other to a 1999 Russian isolate.