Molecular Analysis of an Outbreak of Influenza in the United Kingdom

• Published in: European journal of epidemiology Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 369 - 372
• Main Authors: Ellis, J. S., Zambon, M. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Kluwer Academic Publishers 01.06.1997; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Amino Acid Sequence; Antigens; Biological and medical sciences; Boarding schools; Boys; Disease Outbreaks; Diseases; England - epidemiology; Genetic diversity; Genetic variance; Genetic Variation; H3N2 subtype influenza A virus; Human viral diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Influenza; Influenza A virus; Influenza A virus - classification; Influenza A virus - genetics; Influenza, Human - epidemiology; Influenza, Human - virology; Male; Medical genetics; Medical sciences; Molecular Epidemiology - methods; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Orthomyxoviridae; Outbreaks; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; Population Surveillance; Public health; Respiratory diseases; Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; Schools; Serotyping; Surveillance; Vaccines; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the respiratory system and ent viral diseases; Viruses; England; United Kingdom; Great Britain; Europe; United Kingdom > UK; Human; Nucleotide sequence; Orthomyxoviridae; Epidemiology; Influenzavirus; Infection; Virus; Antigen; Polymerase chain reaction; Restriction fragment length polymorphism; Gene; Epidemiologic genetics; Viral disease; Mutation; Technique; Molecular biology; Public health
• ISSN: 0393-2990; 1573-7284
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1007391222905

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.