SEROPREVALENCE AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF MEASLES VIRUS AMONG CHILDREN 0 - 12 YEARS OF AGE IN SOME STATES IN NORTH WESTERN NIGERIA

📄 Project Abstract

Measles is an acute viral infectious disease that is highly contagious. First described in the 7thcentury as a universal infectious disease of childhood in prevaccination era which is common and often fatal in developing countries (Bellini et al., 2005). Measles virus belongsto the genus Morbillivirus in the family Paramyxoviridae is an enveloped virus with a non-segmented, negative-strand RNA genome (Griffin, 2001). It is 100 - 200 nm in diameter and two of it membrane envelope proteins are important in the pathogenesis, which are the F (fusion) protein, which is responsible for fusion of virus to host cell membranes, viral penetration, and hemolysis, and the H (hemagglutinin) protein, which is responsible for adsorption of virus to cells (Bellini et al., 2005). The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recognizes 8 measles clades designated A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H. Within these clades, there are 23 recognized genotypes, designated A, B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6,...