title: Genetic analysis of Crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever virus in Iran.
abstract: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a potentially fatal disease caused by a tick-borne virus in the family Bunyavridae. The disease occurs in parts of Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Eastern Europe. During recent years, an increasing number of human CCHF cases have been diagnosed in Iran, but very little information is available on the prevalence and genetic diversity of CCHFV in Iran. In the present study, CCHF virus (CCHFV) isolates from nine Iranian patients infected during 2002 were examined genetically. Nucleotide sequencing of the S- and M-segments, encoding the nucleocapsid protein (NP) and the glycoproteins, respectively, revealed that the different isolates were related closely to each other with nucleotide sequence identities exceeding 98% for both S- and M-segments. Phylogenetic analysis of partial S-segment nucleotide sequences showed that the viruses clustered along with strains from Pakistan and Madagascar in one distinct lineage. Phylogenetic analysis also demonstrated that the Iranian isolates examined in this study and the previously published CCHFV strain ArTeh193-3 clustered into different genetic groups, indicating that at least two genetic lineages of CCHFV could be co-circulating in Iran.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Arboviruses and Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers, Pasteur Institute, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sadegh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chinikar
authors.forename: Stine-Mari
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bladh
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goya
authors.forename: Badakhshan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Houshmand
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mirazimi
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Plyusnin
authors.forename: Ake
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lundkvist
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nilsson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D003225:Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, Crimean-Congo / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006479:Hemorrhagic Fever, Crimean / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D006023:Glycoproteins; D019590:Nucleocapsid Proteins; D012367:RNA, Viral; D014764:Viral Proteins