Journal of Bacteriology and Virology  2015;45(2):132-137

doi:10.4167/jbv.2015.45.2.132

Molecular Epidemiology of Mumps Virus Circulated in Gwangju.

Sun Hee KIM 1 ; Mihee SEO ; Jung Wook PARK ; Sun Ju CHO ; Yi Deun HA ; Dong Ryong HA ; Eun Sun KIM ; Hae Ji KANG ; Sung Soon KIM ; Kisoon KIM ; Jae Keun CHUNG

Affiliations

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Keywords

Mumps; Parotitis; Short hydrophobic gene; Genotype I

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

The recent mumps epidemic in South Korea has generated a large amount of public concern. This study has attempted to analyze molecular epidemiological changes of mumps virus circulating in Gwangju metropolitan area, South Korea. 953 throat swab samples were collected from patients with parotitis from May 2013 to July 2014. The majority (71.5%) of these cases have occurred in middle or high school students aged from 15 to 19 years. All samples were tested using a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) that targets the short hydrophobic (SH) gene of the virus. Mumps virus SH gene was detected in 39.2% (374/953) of samples. And 82 RT-PCR products were randomly selected for nucleotide sequencing analysis. All of these sequences were determined as genotype I by phylogenetic analysis and showed the highest nucleic acid similarity (99%) with Dg1062/Korea/98 (GenBank accession no. AY309060). These results suggested that appearance of new genotype or genetic variation at the nucleotide level could be ruled out to evaluate main cause of recent mumps outbreak in Gwangju metropolitan area.