The Novel Genotype D8 of Measles Virus Detected in Indonesia in 2014

BackgroundMeasles is one of the most infectious human diseases and can cause serious illness, lifelong complications and death. Measles is still a public health problem since the measles outbreak still occurred throughout Indonesia. Virology surveillance following molecular epidemiology investigations has a major contribution to prevent measles outbreak. Previous studies have documented the presence of measles virus genotypes G2, G3 and D9 in Indonesia, and the other genotypes such as B3, D4, D5, D8 and H1 have been detected in neighboring countries. This study aims to characterize the measles virus that causing outbreak in Indonesia in 2014. MethodsSeventy four urine specimens were collected from eight provinces and examined by one step RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing method. Sequencing analysis were conducted using Bioedit 7.1; DNA Star 7.0 and MEGA 5.0 software. ResultsThe PCR results showed 34 out of 74 clinical specimens positive of measles virus. We found the genotype of 34 measles viruses belongs to genotype D8, D9 and G3. ConclusionThe first measles genotype D8 has been detected from Indonesia in 2014 although other measles genotype still can be found in Indonesia.