[5] Bunyaviruses belong to the fifth group of the Baltimore classification system, which includes viruses with a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA genome.

With the exception of Hantaviruses and Arenaviruses, all viruses in the Bunyavirales order are transmitted by arthropods (mosquitos, tick, or sandfly).

Incidence of infection is closely linked to vector activity, for example, mosquito-borne viruses are more common in the summer.

Bunyavirus morphology is somewhat similar to that of the Paramyxoviridae family; Bunyavirales form enveloped, spherical virions with diameters of 80–120 nm.

[citation needed] Bunyaviruses replicate in the cytoplasm, while the viral proteins transit through the ER and Golgi apparatus.

[2] Plants can host bunyaviruses from the families Tospoviridae and Fimoviridae (e.g. tomato, pigeonpea, melon, wheat, raspberry, redbud, and rose).

Members of some families are insect-specific, for example the phasmavirids, first isolated from phantom midges,[16] and since identified in diverse insects including moths, wasps and bees, and other true flies.

Symptomatic infection typically causes non-specific flu-like symptoms with fever lasting for about three days.

[21] Prevention depends on the reservoir, amplifying hosts and how the viruses are transmitted, i.e. the vector, whether ticks or mosquitoes and which animals are involved.

Preventive measures include general hygiene, limiting contact with vector saliva, urine, feces, or bedding.

[citation needed] 1940s: Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever is discovered in Russia 1951: 3,000 cases of Hantavirus were reported in South Korea in 1951, a time when UN forces were fighting on the 38th parallel during the Korean War 1956: Cache Valley virus isolated in Culiseta inornata mosquitoes in Utah 1960: La Crosse virus was first recognized in a fatal case of encephalitis in La Crosse, Wisconsin 1977: Rift Valley Fever virus caused approximately 200,000 cases and 598 deaths in Egypt 2017: Bunyavirales order is created