DIFFERENTIATION OF VACCINE AND WILD MUMPS VIRUSES BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION AND NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCING OF THE SH GENE - BRIEF REPORT

The nucleotide sequences of the SH gene and its F gene flanking region were determined over a range of 322 nucleotides for two live vaccines , two vaccine-associated isolates, six wild mumps viruses, and an atte nuated mumps virus and compared to other sequences already published. Comparison revealed that the vaccine strains were clearly different fr om each other and the postvaccination isolates were different from the vaccines used. The viruses were assigned to three known cocirculating viral lineages. The attenuated mumps virus possesses nucleotide seque nces identical to those of its progenitor Strain. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.