Cocirculation of antigenic variants and the vaccine-type virus during the 2004-2005 influenza B virus epidemics in Japan.

ABSTRACT: In the 2004-2005 season, there was a large epidemic of the influenza B virus Yamagata group in Kobe, Japan. In hemagglutination inhibition tests, most of the clinical isolates from Kobe showed antigenicities similar to those of previous isolates (the vaccine-type virus). Only a few antigenic variants were isolated around the peak of the epidemic; however, Kobe residents developed antibodies against the variants during the season. The antigenic variants showed a one-point mutation of a nucleotide in the HA1 gene (C440A or G421A), which resulted in the substitution of one amino acid in the 150 loop of the HA molecule (T147N or G141R). The 150 loop is one of four epitopes of the hemagglutinin molecule of the influenza B virus. We established a system to detect one-point differences in the nuc

SUBMITTER: Nakagawa N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2643680 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature