Genetic variability of wild-type measles viruses, circulating in the Russian Federation during the implementation of the National Measles Elimination Program, 2003–2007

Abstract

Genetic characterization of wild-type measles viruses (MVs) is an important component of laboratory surveillance of measles. In this study, a phylogenetic analysis was performed of the nucleoprotein gene sequences of 228 MVs isolated in the Russian Federation between 2003 and 2007. Five genotypes, D4, D5, D6, D8, and H1, were detected. From 1999 through the first 6 months of 2003, the most prevalent genotype in the European part of Russia was D4. All genotype D4-type viruses were closely related to each other (with overall sequence diversity of <or=0.9%), suggesting the presence of a single endemic MV strain. After 2003, viruses with closely related sequences within genotype D6 (<or=0.9% sequence diversity) were prevalent. During this time, there was a low level of indigenous transmission of genotype D6, and genotype D6 viruses were imported from neighbouring countries, which led to the identification of two lineages of genotype D6, i.e. D6a and D6b. Lineage D6a was closely related to viruses isolated in Turkey, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, whereas lineage D6b was linked to a large outbreak in Ukraine in 2005-2006. Genotypes H1, D5 and D8 were associated with sporadic cases and clusters of transmission linked to importations. Enhanced vaccination interrupted the transmission of the previous endemic lineage D4 in 2003 and of lineage D6a in 2005, although an accumulation of susceptible individuals in the population allowed for prolonged circulation of lineage D6b. These data on MV genotype distribution, in conjunction with the epidemiological data for measles, show considerable progress in measles control and suggest that regional elimination is possible.

Molecular epidemiology of measles virus in Iran 2009–2010: First detection of measles genotype H1

“…This is similar to a report from Burkina Faso in 2003 [Mulders et al, 2003]. During the same period, genotype information of the neighboring countries of Iran indicated that there were different measles genotypes, such as D4, D5, D6, D8, H1 in Russia [Astrasheuskaya et al, 2008;Shulga et al, 2009], D4 in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan [Riddell et al, 2005], D6, D4 in Turkey [Korukluoglu et al, 2005]. NCBI blast analysis showed that the D4 Iranian strains belong to the three lineages so that most outbreaks and sporadic cases in 2009 were due to lineages 1 and 2 whereas linage 3 was found predominantly in 2010 (Fig.…”

Molecular epidemiology of measles virus in Italy, 2002–2007

“…In 2007 we found a single case belonging to the D8 genotype (Figure 3), whose strain has been isolated in Russian [34] and was endemic in India in the same period [35] but the source of the virus remained unknown.…”

Comparison of laboratory diagnostic methods for measles infection and identification of measles virus genotypes in Hong Kong

“…Apart from Hong Kong, other countries also had genotype H1a strains imported from China, causing outbreaks occasionally [Chibo et al, 2003;Tipples et al, 2004;Mosquera et al, 2005;Kremer et al, 2008;Kurata et al, 2009;Shulga et al, 2009]. It is interesting to find that some of these strains had the same nucleotide sequence with strains detected in Taiwan as early as 1992 [Cheng et al, 2009].…”