Polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis and identification of distinct variants of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in the United Arab Emirates

Tino F. Schwarz, Herbert Nsanze, Maurice Longson, Hans Nitschko, Sabine Gilch, Hassan Shurie, Abdulmajeed Ameen, Abdul R.M. Zahir, Upendra G. Acharya, Gundula Jager

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

99 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Vital hemorrhagic fever has re-emerged in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since November 1993. Genomic RNA of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic virus (C-CHFV) was detected by a newly developed, nested reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in the sera of four (25.0%) of 16 suspected cases of viral hemorrhagic fever. The RT-PCR was based on oligonucleotide primers deducted from the small RNA segment encoding the nucleoprotein of the virus. By comparison with a nucleotide sequence of a C-CHFV isolate from a Chinese sheep, a divergence of 10.0-11.8% was detected in the C-CHFV variants causing the UAE outbreak. In the four positive sera, three phylogenetically distinct C-CHFV variants were amplified and confirmed by direct sequencing of the PCR fragments. These C-CHFV sequences were obtained directly from sera of infected humans without prior propagation in cell culture. The RT-PCR allows rapid detection of genomic C-CHFV RNA in clinical specimens and study of the molecular epidemiology of this infection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)190-196
Number of pages7
JournalAmerican Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Volume55
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1996

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Parasitology
  • Virology
  • Infectious Diseases

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