Genetic characterization of historical epidemic mumps viruses in northern Spain, 1987-1990.

Abstract

The mumps virus (MuV) is genetically diverse and is divided into 12 genotypes. The World Health Organization has recommended expanding virological surveillance for MuV, and therefore molecular characterization of circulating strains (i.e. genotypes) is increasingly performed. Nevertheless, little is known about the genotypes circulating before the massive vaccination of children and adolescents. The present study analyzed the strains causing the 1988-1989 mumps epidemic in the Basque Country, northern Spain, which occurred in the early vaccination period, before the endemic circulation of mumps virus was blocked. The epidemic reached an annual incidence rate of more than 400 cases/100,000 inhabitants, and caused a large number of cases of mumps meningitis. MuV RNA was amplified from the cerebrospinal fluid of 15 infected patients during the epidemic and from three more patients affected shortly before or after this epidemic (1987, early 1988 and 1990). Genotyping of the complete small hydrophobic gene (316 nucleotides), amplified in the 18 strains, as well as of the entire hemagglutinin-neuraminidase gene (1749 nucleotides), amplified in four strains, assigned all strains to genotype K, a genotype infrequently detected at present. Although the putative HN protein sequence differed by 4.8-5.5% in relation to Jeryl Lynn 5 strain (the main strain used in the vaccination program in this region), the vaccine was effective, and dramatically reduced the incidence of mumps over the following years. The presence of genotype K strains in Spain in the 1980s, together with their contemporary detection in Scandinavia, suggests that this genotype could have caused the Spanish epidemic and was also circulating widely in Europe at that time.

• Authors: Gustavo Cilla, Milagrosa Montes, Maria S Zapico, Luis Piñeiro, Miren Satrustegi, Eduardo G Pérez-Yarza, Emilio Pérez-Trallero
• Journal: Infection, genetics and evolution : journal of molecular epidemiology and evolutionary genetics in infectious diseases (Infect Genet Evol) Vol. 28 Pg. 5-10 (Dec 2014) ISSN: 1567-7257 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 25176599 (Publication Type: Historical Article, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Mumps Vaccine
• RNA, Viral
• Viral Proteins

Topics

• Amino Acid Sequence
• Genotype
• History, 20th Century
• Humans
• Molecular Sequence Data
• Mumps (epidemiology, history, prevention & control, virology)
• Mumps Vaccine
• Mumps virus (classification, genetics)
• Phylogeny
• RNA, Viral (chemistry, genetics)
• Sequence Alignment
• Spain (epidemiology)
• Viral Proteins (chemistry, genetics)