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Genetic analysis of measles viruses isolated in Morocco
Author(s) -
Alla Amal,
Liffick Stephanie L.,
Newton Bruce R.,
Elaouad Rajae,
Rota Paul A.,
Bellini William J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.10223
Subject(s) - virology , measles , measles virus , biology , vaccination
Sequence analysis was conducted on the hemagglutinin (H) and nucleoprotein (N) genes from nine wild‐type measles viruses (MV) isolated during an outbreak that occurred in Morocco during 1998 and 1999. The sequence data showed that all the viruses were closely related to each other and were members of genotype C2. Genotype C2 has been shown to be circulating in Europe, and the sequences of the Moroccan isolates were most closely related to the sequences of recent viral isolates from western Europe. This report presents the first molecular epidemiological study of circulating wild‐type measles viruses in Morocco. Knowledge of the indigenous strain of measles virus circulating in Morocco will help to describe viral transmission pathways and should contribute to efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of future vaccination campaigns. J. Med. Virol. 68:441–444, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.