Genetic stability of cold-adapted A/Leningrad/134/47/57 (H2N2) influenza virus: sequence analysis of live cold-adapted reassortant vaccine strains before and after replication in children.

We previously reported that the A/Leningrad/134/47/57 (H2N2) cold-adapted virus (A/Len/47) used in preparing reassortant live attenuated vaccines for children acquired 14 (11 coding) mutations in genes coding for proteins other than haemagglutinin and neuraminidase during cold-adaptation. Preservation of these mutations in genomes of viruses isolated from children on the second, fifth, or eighth day after vaccination was examined by sequence analysis. The sequence data demonstrated that all nine coding mutations selected for examination were conserved in the genomes of all 11 strains investigated, indicating that the mutations accompanying cold-adaptation and attenuation of the A/Len/47 master vaccine are highly stable.