Molecular epidemiology study of measles viruses in Kunming area of China

The present study assessed the variation of measles viruses (MV) and its association with clinical manifestations in patients with MV. A total of 38 pediatric patients with MV at the acute infection stage were selected and 2 ml venous blood was collected from each of them. Serum immunoglobulin M antibodies were determined by ELISA. Urine specimens were collected from 30 of the 38 patients and associated genetic structures were detected by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction mapping. At the same time, clinical epidemiological manifestations were collected to perform an epidemiological analysis. The MV-positive rate within the cohort determined in serum was 100%. Seven MV strains were isolated from urine specimens of 30 patients and the positive rate was 23.33%. Four MV strains were randomly selected from the 7 strains and the results revealed that they were all of the H_1a genotype. In addition, there was no significant correlation between clinical manifestation of pediatric patients with measles and the genotype of the MV. In conclusion, the preponderant genotype of MV in Kunming was H_1a and there was obvious nucleotide or amino acid mutation. The clinical manifestation of MV infection in pediatric patients was not associated with the MV genotype.