Hawrami K, Hart IJ, Pereira F, Argent S, Bannister B, Bovill B, Carrington D, Ogilvie M, Rawstorne S, Tryhorn Y, Breuer J. Molecular epidemiology of varicella-zoster virus in East London, England, between 1971 and 1995.
J Clin Microbiol 1997;
35:2807-9. [PMID:
9350738 PMCID:
PMC230066 DOI:
10.1128/jcm.35.11.2807-2809.1997]
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Abstract
The molecular epidemiology of varicella-zoster virus in London, England, between 1971 and 1995 was examined by using two informative polymorphic markers, variable repeat region R5 and a BglI restriction site in gene 54. Viruses from 105 cases of chickenpox and 144 of zoster were typed. Two alleles of R5, A and B, were found at prevalences of 89 and 6%, respectively. No difference in allele frequency between the zoster and chickenpox cases was found, and no change in the frequencies of these alleles was observed to occur over time. By contrast, a BglI restriction site (BglI+) was found with increasing frequency over time among cases of varicella (P < 0.005) and, to a lesser extent, cases of zoster. The BglI+ polymorphism was strongly associated (P < 0.0005) with zoster in subjects who had immigrated to the United Kingdom from countries with low adult immunity to varicella (LAIV). Sixty-three percent of the subjects with zoster who had emigrated from countries with LAIV carried the BglI+ virus, in contrast to 10% of adults who had grown up in countries with high adult immunity to varicella. The significance of these data, in view of the changing epidemiology of chickenpox, is discussed.
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