[Comparison of characterization of hemagglutination and HA1 sequence of currently circulating strains of influenza A (H3N2) virus in Zhejiang province and in Japan].
OBJECTIVE
To compare the characterization of hemagglutination and the sequence of HA1 region of the influenza A (H3N2) virus in Zhejiang province and Japan in recent years.


METHODS
Hemagglutinin antigenic analysis of influenza A (H3N2) viruses which were isolated in Zhejiang province was carried out and to compare their characterization of hemagglutination and the sequence of amino acids in HA1 region with the virus strains from Japan during the same period.


RESULTS
The antigenicity and the amino acid sequence in HA1 region of the virus strains prevalent in Zhejiang in recent years have changed to some extent. Most of the virus strains were lack of hemagglutination reaction to chicken red blood cell and became "O" phase virus strains. The amino acid sequence of HA1 region of the virus strains exhibited only 94.82% of its homology with that of A/Wuhan/359/95 strain. The virus strains of Japan in the same period showed similar characteristics.


CONCLUSIONS
HA1 gene variation of influenza A (H3N2) viruses was the main cause leading to the spread of influenza in the last years.
Lu
Yi-yu
YY
Institute of Virology, Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Hangzhou 310009, China.
Yan
Ju-ying
JY
Zhou
Min
M
Jiang
Xiao-lu
XL
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D053122:Influenza A Virus, H3N2 Subtype; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D000956:Antigens, Viral; D019267:Hemagglutinin Glycoproteins, Influenza Virus; C483468:hemagglutinin, human influenza A virus