title: Isolation and partial characterization of dengue virus type 2 and 4 strains from dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever patients from Mindanao, Republic of the Philippines.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Isolation of dengue virus from dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever cases from Mindanao, Republic of the Philippines.
  
  
  METHODS
  12 patients with clinically suspected dengue fever (DF) or dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) presenting in four regional hospitals between August and September 1995 on Minadano were enrolled in the study. Dengue virus was isolated by inoculation of Vero/E6 or C6/36 cells with patient serum. IgM antibodies were measured using a commercial test system. Up to 454 bp of the capsid region and 240 bp of the E/NS1 gene junction of different viral isolates were sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Virus could be isolated from seven patients, five isolates were typed as dengue virus type 2 and two as dengue virus type 4 by immunostaining with monoclonal antibodies or by RT/PCR. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed a close relationship of the dengue virus type 2 isolates with viruses isolated in the Philippines in 1983 and 1988.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As observed in studies from other parts of South East Asia, dengue virus type 2 was readily isolated from dengue haemorrhagic fever cases. Dengue virus type 2 and 4 circulate in Mindanao, Philippines, with dengue type 2 being responsible for most of our severe DF or DHF cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany. termeulen@bni.uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: ter Meulen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grau
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lenz
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Emmerich
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmitz
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jaspert
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niedrig
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003715:Dengue / Q000821:virology*; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D010679:Philippines; D019595:Severe Dengue / Q000821:virology*