Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 57, 178-180, 2004
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Short Communication
An Outbreak of Respiratory Infection due to Respiratory Syncytial Virus Subgroup B in Ankara, Turkey
Cakir Guney*, Ayhan Kubar, Mehmet Yapar, A.Bulent Besirbellioglu1 and Levent Doganci2
Division of Virology, 1Department of Infectious Diseases, 2Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, School of Medicine, 06018 Ankara, Turkey
(Received March 3, 2004. Accepted May 10, 2004)
*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Division of Virology, Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, School of Medicine, 06018 Ankara, Turkey. Tel: +90-312-3043432, Fax: +90-312-3043402, E-mail: cguney@gata.edu.tr
SUMMARY: During the outbreak, from 16 January 2002 to 3 March 2002, nasopharyngeal secretions obtained from 35 pediatric patients under 2 years of age and suffering from acute respiratory disease were tested by VIDAS respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) assay (an automated enzyme-linked fluorescent immunoassay) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RSV antigen was detected in 16 specimens by VIDAS RSV assay, and 15 of these were confirmed by the RT-PCR. A total of 18 samples were found to be positive by RT-PCR. RSV subgroup B was identified by further restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis using AvaII and BglII endonucleases in 17 of 18 (94%) RT-PCR positive samples. These findings indicated that RSV subgroup B was highly dominant during an outbreak of RSV infection among children in Ankara. To our knowledge, this is the first outbreak due to dominant RSV subgroup B documented in Turkey.