title: Genetic characterization of wild-type measles viruses circulating in suburban Khartoum, 1997-2000.
abstract: Measles remains endemic in many East African countries, where it is often associated with high morbidity and mortality. We collected clinical specimens from Sudanese measles patients between July 1997 and July 2000. Sequencing of the 3' 456 nucleotides of the nucleoprotein gene from 33 measles virus (MV) isolates and 8 RNA samples extracted from clinical specimens demonstrated the presence of a single endemic MV strain with little sequence variation over time (overall nucleotide divergence of 0 to 1.3%). This was confirmed by sequencing of the complete H gene of two isolates from 1997 and two from 2000, in which the overall divergence ranged between 0 and 0.5%. Comparison with MV reference strains demonstrated that the viruses belonged to clade B, genotype B3, and were most closely related to a set of viruses recently isolated in Nigeria. Our study demonstrates a remarkable genetic stability of an endemically circulating MV strain.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, PO Box 102, Khartoum, Sudan2.|Institute of Virology, Erasmus MC, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands1.
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: El Mubarak
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Erasmus MC, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands1.
authors.forename: M W G
authors.initials: MWG
authors.lastname: van de Bildt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, PO Box 102, Khartoum, Sudan2.
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Mustafa
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Erasmus MC, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands1.
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Vos
authors.affiliation: Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, PO Box 102, Khartoum, Sudan2.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Mukhtar
authors.affiliation: Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, PO Box 102, Khartoum, Sudan2.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Erasmus MC, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands1.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Andeweg
authors.affiliation: Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, PO Box 102, Khartoum, Sudan2.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: El Hassan
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Erasmus MC, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands1.
authors.forename: A D M E
authors.initials: ADME
authors.lastname: Osterhaus
authors.affiliation: Institute of Virology, Erasmus MC, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands1.
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: de Swart
mesh_terms: D014644:Genetic Variation; D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008457:Measles / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D008459:Measles virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D013397:Sudan; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D006389:Hemagglutinins, Viral; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D009698:Nucleoproteins; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins; C058314:nucleoprotein, Measles virus