[Geneotic analysis of wild type measles viruses circulating in China during 1995-1997]

To investigate the molecular epidemiology of measles virus (MV) in China, sequence analysis of MV was performed based on a 282-nt region of the nucleoprotein (N) gene and a 450-nt region of heamaglutinin (H) gene by direct sequencing of RT-PCR amplicons obtained from clinical specimens. Results revealed that one MV strain belonged to ED-like genotype and remainder strains were clustered into a new genotype which was distinct from Chinese vaccine strains and MV strains circulating in other countries, as previously described representing a new genotype. There was up to 15.4% divergence in the nt-282 N gene and 10.8% divergence in the nt-450 H gene between the new genotype and other genotypes.