Culture followed by serological and molecular tests is a standard approach for identifying an unknown virus. However, culture of an unknown virus is time-consuming, even taking several years to confirm a novel infection like HIV [17] . Otherwise, virus culture often fails because of the lack of cell lines capable of supporting propagation of viruses (e.g., hepatitis B and C virus). Methods for cloning nucleic acids of microbial pathogens directly from clinical samples offer opportunities for pathogen discovery, thereby laying the foundation for future studies aimed at assessing whether novel or unexpected viruses play a role in disease etiology. Random PCR and subtractive cloning sequencing have identified previously unknown pathogens as etiological agents of several acute and chronic infectious diseases [18, 19] . Recently, high-throughput sequencing approaches have been used for pathogen detection and discovery in clinical samples [20] [21] [22] . We also developed a method for exploring viruses, both known and novel, using highthroughput Illumina sequencing. In this study, high-throughput Illumina sequencing was applied to specifically explore the viral communities in patients with FTLS, using healthy subjects as controls. Here, we provide evidence for the discovery of a novel bunyavirus associated with FTLS through high-throughput sequencing. Subsequent culture of the virus and PCR detection of the specific virus in patient specimens confirmed these findings. 