Abstract
The first outbreak of influenza virus in Europe in 1995/1996 occurred in a school in the south of England. RT-PCR-restriction analysis was performed on the HA1 portion of influenza haemagglutinin gene amplified directly from clinical samples. These were taken at the onset of the outbreak and indicated co-circulation of two distinct genetic variants of influenza virus which were antigenically identical. Investigations of this nature demonstrate the genetic diversity of circulating variants of influenza and have the potential to provide information on molecular evolution of strains within closed populations.
Keywords: HA sequence, Influenza virus, RT-PCR-restriction analysis
References
- 1.Heutchinson EJ, Joseph CA, Chakraverty P, Zambon M, Fleming DM, Watson JM. Influenza Surveillance in England and Wales: October 1994 to June 1995. CDR Review. 1995;5:R200–204. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Ellis JS, Chakraverty P, Clewley JP. Genetic and antigenic variation in the haemagglutinin of recently circulating human influenza A (H3N2) viruses in the United Kingdom. Archiv Virol. 1995;140:1889–1904. doi: 10.1007/BF01322680. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Zhang W, Evans DW. Detection and identification of human influenza viruses by the polymerase chain reaction. J Virol Method. 1991;33:165–189. doi: 10.1016/0166-0934(91)90017-t. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4.Klimov A, Cox NJ. PCR restriction analysis of genome composition and stability of cold adapted reassortant live influenza vaccines. J Virol Methods. 1995;52:41–49. doi: 10.1016/0166-0934(94)00133-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5.Saitou N, Nei M. The neighbor-joining method: A new method for reconstructing phylogenetic trees. Mol Biol Evol. 1987;4:406–425. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040454. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]