Determination of measles virus hemagglutinin gene by RT-PCR

  Objective   Using RT-PCR to detect measles virus hemagglutinin gene(H gene)of 570bp length directly from throat swabs and urine of the measles patients.

  Methods   Extracting RNA from throat swabs and urine of the measles patients, using RT-PCR amplification measles virus hemagglutinin gene of 570bp.

  Results   Among 20 throat swabs of the 22 patients all were dedected the region.Among the 20 urine, 18 samples were dedected.By first PCR amplification, the minimum quantity of measles virus required to give a positive signal was < 0.001 TCID50.

  Conclusion   RT-PCR positive rate of the throat swabs was higier than the urine of measles patients.The method may help diagnose measles cases rapidly, espacially to those patients with rash in the initial clinical stage but with negative measles IgM.