FLAVIVIRUS WEST NILE (SARAFEND) EGRESS AT THE PLASMA-MEMBRANE

West Nile (Sarafend) virus was distinctly observed to bud from the pla sma membrane rather than mature intracellularly. This has been observe d with transmission electron microscopy. Using conventional scanning e lectron microscopy, budding at the plasma membrane especially at the f ilopodia was clearly illustrated. Immunogold labelling against the vir us envelope protein was also performed to confirm this mode of exit. T he gold particles were observed to be located at the sites where virus budding was seen under the field emission scanning electron microscop e.