Genetic analysis of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever virus in Iran

S Shinikar (1), A Mirazimi (2), S-M Persson (2), M Johansson (2), A Plysnin (2,3), Å Lundkvist (2,4) and M Nilsson (2)

1. Laboratory of Arboviruses and Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers, Pasteur Institute, Teheran, Iran
2. Centre for Microbiological Preparedness, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control S-17182, Stockholm, Sweden
3. Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
4. Microbiology and Tumour Biology Center, Karolinska Institutet, S-17177 Stockholm, Sweden

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus belongs to the genus Nairovirus in the Bunyaviridae family and causes severe disease in humans, with mortalities reaching up to 30%. The virus can be transmitted to humans either by bites of ixodid ticks or by contact with blood or tissue from CCHF patients or viremic livestock. Cases of the disease have been reported from different parts of southeastern Europe, Africa, and Asia.

In this study, primary blood samples were collected from nine patients with CCHF virus infection, including one fatal case, in the eastern regions of Iran in 2002. The samples were collected during the acute phase and none of the patients showed any antibody response as investigated by IgM and IgG ELISAs. The samples were analysed by reverse transcriptase RT-PCR using previously described primers. Additional primers amplifying a 557-bp section of the M segment were used. Amplicons from both S- and M- segments were cloned and sequenced on both strands.

The sequences obtained were aligned with the corresponding S- and M-segment section of known CCHF viruses. All sequences derived from the Iranian CCHF patients in this study were closely related to each other with nucleotide sequence identities between 96-99% and >99 % on S and M segment respectively. The Iranian strains were most closely related to CCHF virus previously identified in Pakistan as judged by comparisons of partial sequences of the S- segment. Partly different relationships were, however, apparent when comparisons based on partial sequences of the M- segment were made.

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