Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions of the globe with the highest measles-related morbidity and mortality. Yet only seven virus isolates from this vast region have been phylogenetically characterized on the basis of their nucleoprotein, the last one in 1991. To characterize the prevalent wild-type viruses and to understand their circulation pattern, a large panel (n = 45) of isolates was collected in Ghana and Nigeria in 1997 and 1998. On the basis of their nucleoprotein sequence, the viruses clearly belong to clade B but a reshuffling of the structure of this clade was proposed, tentatively extending the number of genotypes from two to three on the basis of quantitative criteria. The sequences revealed the co-circulation of at least two distinct viruses in the cities of Lagos and Ibadan, suggesting that the number of susceptible individuals seems to be high enough to support endemic circulation of at least two distinct viruses. The endemic co-circulation of several viruses may well be a characteristic of communities with low vaccination rates. One of these viruses was also found in Accra in 1998 as well as in a 1994 case linked to distant Kenya, suggesting that clade B viruses are prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa while non-B viruses seem to dominate the south of Africa.
ByassP.,
AdedejiM. D.,
MongdemJ. G.,
ZwandorA. C.,
Brew-GravesS. H.,
ClementsC. J.1995; Assessment and possible control of endemic measles in urban Nigeria. Journal of Public Health Medicine 17:140–145
DollimoreN.,
CuttsF.,
BinkaF. N.,
RossD. A.,
MorrisS. S.,
SmithP. G.1997; Measles incidence, case fatality, and delayed mortality in children with or without vitamin A supplementation in rural Ghana. American Journal of Epidemiology 146:646–654
KreisS.,
VardasE.,
WhistlerT.1997; Sequence analysis of the nucleocapsid gene of measles virus isolates from South Africa identifies a new genotype. Journal of General Virology 78:1581–1587
MoriT.,
SasakiK.,
HashimotoH.,
MakinoS.1993; Molecular cloning and complete nucleotide sequence of genomic RNA of the AIK-C strain of attenuated measles virus. Virus Genes 7:67–81
OutlawM. C.,
JayeA.,
WhittleH. C.,
PringleC. R.1997; Clustering of haemagglutinin gene sequences of measles viruses isolated in the Gambia. Virus Research 48:125–131
RimaB. K.,
EarleJ. A. P.,
YeoR. P.,
HerlihyL.,
BaczkoK.,
ter MeulenV.,
CarabañaJ.,
CaballeroM.,
CelmaM. L.,
Fernandez-MuñozR.1995; Temporal and geographical distribution of measles virus genotypes. Journal of General Virology 76:1173–1180
RimaB. K.,
EarleJ. A. P.,
BaczkoK.,
ter MeulenV.,
LiebertU. G.,
CarstensC.,
CarabañaJ.,
CaballeroM.,
CelmaM. L.,
Fernandez-MuñozR.1997; Sequence divergence ofmeasles virus haemagglutinin during natural evolution and adaptation to cell culture. Journal of General Virology 78:97–106
RotaJ. S.,
WangZ.-D.,
RotaP. A.,
BelliniW. J.1994a; Comparison of sequences of the H, F and N coding genes of measles virus vaccine strains. Virus Research 31:317–330
RotaP. A.,
BloomA. E.,
VanchieriJ. A.,
BelliniW. J.1994b; Evolution of the nucleoprotein and matrix genes of wild-type strains of measles virus isolated from recent epidemics. Virology 198:724–730
RotaJ. S.,
HeathJ. L.,
RotaP. A.,
KingG. E.,
CelmaM. L.,
CarabañaJ.,
Fernandez-MuñozR.,
BrownD.,
JinL.,
BelliniW. J.1996; Molecular epidemiology of measles virus: identification of pathways of transmission and implications for measles elimination. Journal of Infectious Diseases 173:32–37
TaylorM. J.,
GodfreyE.,
BaczkoK.,
ter MeulenV.,
WildT. F.,
RimaB. K.1991; Identification of several different lineages of measles virus. Journal of General Virology 72:83–88
ThompsonJ. D.,
HigginsD. G.,
GibsonT. J.1994; CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, position-specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice. Nucleic Acids Research 22:4673–4680
WHO1998; Expanded programme on immunization -standardization of the nomenclature for describing the genetic characteristics of wild-type measles viruses. Weekly Epidemiological Report 73:265–269
XuW.,
TaminA.,
RotaJ. S.,
ZhangL.,
BelliniW. J.,
RotaP. A.1998; New genetic group of measles virus isolated in the People’s Republic of China. Virus Research54147–156