[Characteristics of parotitis virus, isolated in Siberia]

Two strains of parotitis virus were isolated from patients with clinical symptoms of the disease in epidemiological screening which was carried out during an outbreak of epidemic parotitis in the village of Koltsovo in 1994. The strains were isolated from the saliva of children aged 7 and 8 years vaccinated with live parotitis vaccine at the age of 1.5 years. Primers for the genome site coding for the gene F terminal and the SH gene (a total of 509 n. p.) were estimated and synthesized and the site was amplified. Electron-microscopic examination of purified virus and Vero cells infected with it and serological tests showed a similarity of the newly isolated virus with the Anders strain of parotitis virus. The Dragun-1 and Dragun-2 strains of parotitis virus have been deposited in the collection of viruses at the Vektor State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology in the village of Koltsovo, Novosibirsk district.