Duh Darja, Nichol Stuart T, Khristova Marina L, Saksida Ana, Hafner-Bratkovic Iva, Petrovec Miroslav, Dedushaj Iusuf, Ahmeti Salih, Avsic-Zupanc Tatjana
Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical Faculty, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Virol J. 2008 Jan 15;5:7. doi: 10.1186/1743-422X-5-7.
The Balkan region and Kosovo in particular, is a well-known Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) endemic region, with frequent epidemic outbreaks and sporadic cases occurring with a hospitalized case fatality of approximately 30%. Recent analysis of complete genome sequences of diverse CCHF virus strains showed that the genome plasticity of the virus is surprisingly high for an arthropod-borne virus. High levels of nucleotide and amino acid differences, frequent RNA segment reassortment and even RNA recombination have been recently described. This diversity illustrates the need to determine the complete genome sequence of CCHF virus representatives of all geographically distinct endemic areas, particularly in light of the high pathogenicity of the virus and its listing as a potential bioterrorism threat. Here we describe the first complete CCHF virus genome sequence of a virus (strain Kosova Hoti) isolated from a hemorrhagic fever case in the Balkans. This virus strain was isolated from a fatal CCHF case, and passaged only twice on Vero E6 cells prior to sequence analysis. The virus total genome was found to be 19.2 kb in length, consisting of a 1672 nucleotide (nt) S segment, a 5364 nt M segment and a 12150 nt L segment. Phylogenetic analysis of CCHF virus complete genomes placed the Kosova Hoti strain in the Europe/Turkey group, with highest similarity seen with Russian isolates. The virus M segments are the most diverse with up to 31 and 27% differences seen at the nt and amino acid levels, and even 1.9% amino acid difference found between the Kosova Hoti and another strain from Kosovo (9553-01). This suggests that distinct virus strains can coexist in highly endemic areas.
巴尔干地区，尤其是科索沃，是著名的克里米亚-刚果出血热（CCHF）流行地区，经常爆发疫情并有散发病例，住院病死率约为30%。最近对多种CCHF病毒株全基因组序列的分析表明，对于一种虫媒病毒而言，该病毒的基因组可塑性出奇地高。最近已报道了高水平的核苷酸和氨基酸差异、频繁的RNA片段重配，甚至RNA重组。这种多样性表明，需要确定所有地理上不同的流行地区CCHF病毒代表株的全基因组序列，特别是考虑到该病毒的高致病性及其被列为潜在的生物恐怖主义威胁。在此，我们描述了从巴尔干地区一例出血热病例中分离出的病毒（科索瓦·霍蒂毒株）的首个完整CCHF病毒基因组序列。该病毒株是从一例致命的CCHF病例中分离出来的，在进行序列分析之前仅在Vero E6细胞上传代两次。发现该病毒的全基因组长度为19.2 kb，由一个1672个核苷酸（nt）的S片段、一个5364 nt的M片段和一个12150 nt的L片段组成。对CCHF病毒全基因组的系统发育分析将科索瓦·霍蒂毒株归入欧洲/土耳其组，与俄罗斯分离株的相似性最高。该病毒的M片段差异最大，在核苷酸和氨基酸水平上分别有高达31%和27%的差异，在科索瓦·霍蒂毒株与来自科索沃的另一个毒株（9553-01）之间甚至发现了1.9%的氨基酸差异。这表明不同的病毒株可以在高度流行地区共存。
