Biological and molecular properties of Dengue 2 strains Isolated during the DHF/DSS Cuban epidemic, 1981

To study some biological and molecular properties of nine DENV-2 strains isolated during the 1981 Cuban epidemic, temperature sensitivity, viral plaque size, the kinetic of virus replication in newborn mice inoculated by intracerebral route, the influence of pH medium on virus-cell attachment phase and the restriction enzyme pattern were studied. Strains were classified in two patterns according to temperature sensitivity, plaque size, virus replication in mouse brain and cell culture and restriction enzymatic pattern The changes observed differentiate clearly the strains isolated at the beginning and at the end of the epidemic suggesting that viruses with different characteristics circulated.