Abstract:

Objective To determine dominant genotypes of varicella-zoster virus （VZV） in Wuhan. Methods Specimens were collected from lesions （vesicles or pustules） of 96 patients clinically diagnosed with varicella or herpes zoster, DNA was extracted from these specimens by boiling, freezing and thawing procedure. Then, multiplex PCR was performed to amplify the open reading frames （ORF） 22, 38, 54 of VZV followed by sequence analysis. Finally, the seqences were piled up with ClustalW programme and restriction sites were assessed with Primer premier 5 software. Results In total, 78 （81.3%） specimens were positive for multiplex PCR. The comparison with Dumas sequence revealed that all the positive specimens carried SNPs at position 37902, 38055, 38081 and 38177 in ORF22, which were consistent with J genotype. A recognition site was observed for PstI and BglI enzymes in ORF38 and ORF54, respectively. Conclusion In Wuhan, the major genotype of VZV is J with a PstI site in ORF38 and a BglI site in ORF54.