engleski

Detection and characterization of measles virus strains in cases of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis in Croatia

We describe here the molecular characteristics of two cases of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) in the children from Croatia diagnosed in 2002: a 4-year old girl and 8- year old boy who apparently, according to the medical records, both had acute measles at the age of 6 months. However, they were both vaccinated against measles at the age of 12 months. The patients were hospitalized and treated for encephalitis 3, 5 and 7 years after the onset of acute measles. Measurement of measles antibody in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was not helpful in the diagnosis of SSPE, as well as RT-PCR used to amplify measles genes directly from blood and CSF. In contrast, RT-PCR used to amplify measles genes directly from brain tissue proved to be useful. The minimum amount of sequence data required for genotyping a clinical specimen is 450 nucleotides that code for the COOH-terminal of the N protein, but complete N, M and H gene sequences were also obtained from the brain tissues. Sequence analysis was done by using a set of designated reference sequences (Weekly epidemiological record, 2001, 76, 241-248) representing different genotypes. Sequence analysis showed the genetic characteristics of wild-type measles virus which could be placed into genotype D6. On the other hand, vaccine virus in use in Croatia belongs to the genotype A. Furthermore, when sequences from these children were compared, we found mutations in analysed genes.

SSPE; ospice; genotip; mutacije

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