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. 2019 Jan 25;19(1):90.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-019-3731-y.

Epidemiology and molecular characterization of the re-emerging measles virus among children and adults in the Haut-Ogooue, Gabon

Sonia Etenna Lekana-Douki  1 , Pater Noster Sir-Ondo-Enguier  2 , Octavie Banga-Mve-Ella  3 , Romeo Karl Imboumy-Limoukou  2 , Gael D Maganga  3 , Jean-Bernard Lekana-Douki  2   4 , Nicolas Berthet  3   5   6
Affiliations

Epidemiology and molecular characterization of the re-emerging measles virus among children and adults in the Haut-Ogooue, Gabon

Sonia Etenna Lekana-Douki et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Measles is one of the most infectious diseases with a high mortality rate worldwide. It is caused by the measles virus (MeV) which is a single stranded RNA virus with genetic diversity based on the nucleoprotein gene, including 24 genotypes. In Gabon, several outbreaks occurred in the past few years, especially in 2016 in Libreville and Oyem. A surveillance network of infectious diseases highlighted a measles outbreak which occurred in the south of Gabon from April to June 2017.

Methods: Clinical specimens of urine, blood, throat and nasal swabs were collected in the two main cities of the Haut-Ogooue province, Franceville and Moanda. Virological investigations based on real-time polymerase chain reaction for molecular diagnosis and conventional PCR for genotype identification were done.

Results: Specimens were collected from 139 suspected measles patients. A total of 46 (33.1%) children and adults were laboratory-confirmed cases among which 16 (34.8%) were unvaccinated, 16 (34.8%) had received one dose, and 11 (23.9%) had received two doses of the measles vaccine. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all the sequences of the nucleoprotein gene belonged to genotype B3.

Conclusions: Measles infection was more commonly confirmed among those with one recorded dose compared to suspect cases with none, unknown or two recorded doses. The molecular characterization of the strains showed the circulation of the B3 genotype which is endemic on the African continent, thirty years after the B2 genotype was described in an outbreak in Libreville, the capital of Gabon. These findings highlight that surveillance and molecular investigation of measles should be continued in Gabon.

Keywords: Gabon; Haut-Ogooue; Measles outbreak; Strains; Vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Gabonese Ministry of Health which granted its ethics approval (number 000292/VP/MSPSSN/SG/DGS). It was set up in response to the measles outbreak which occurred in Gabon. We obtained informed verbal consent from patients and their parents or guardians (for minors) for inclusion before they participated in the study, which was approved by the Ethics Committee.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Weekly distribution of the measles outbreak of 2017, in the Haut-Ogooue, Gabon
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Phylogenetic analysis of the measles strains based on the 456 nucleotides coding for the nucleoprotein N gene. The tree was built with the maximum-likelihood method with the PhyML algorithm. Bootstrap values above 0.9 are indicated. The sequences of our study which was designated by the accession number (GenBank) and the WHO nomenclature are in blue. We compared them with those recommended by WHO in MeaNS to determine genotypes B3. The vertical bars represented the most common genotypes in the world. The blue circle indicates the sequences of strains circulating in Gabon in 1984
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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