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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 11 1997, 2807-2809, Vol 35, No. 11
Copyright © 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Molecular epidemiology of varicella-zoster virus in East London, England, between 1971 and 1995 [In Process Citation]

K Hawrami, IJ Hart, F Pereira, S Argent, B Bannister, B Bovill, D Carrington, M Ogilvie, S Rawstorne, Y Tryhorn and J Breuer
Department of Medical Microbiology and Virology, St. Bartholomew's and Royal Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary Westfield College, London, United Kingdom.

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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