Single amino acid change in DNA polymerase is associated with foscarnet resistance in a varicella-zoster virus strain recovered from a patient with AIDS.

Visse, B; Dumont, B; Huraux, J M; Fillet, A M · J Infect Dis · 1998

case_report · Level V

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Abstract

The genetic characterization of a foscarnet-resistant strain of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) that was isolated from a patient with AIDS is reported. Compared with the sequence of the Dumas reference strain, this strain, which was isolated from a patient in whom foscarnet treatment failed, had two point mutations. The emergence of one of the mutations, which includes a change from a glutamic acid to a lysine at position 512 in the DNA polymerase, suggests that this mutation is implicated in the VZV foscarnet resistance. The other mutation, which replaces serine 863 by a glycine, is also present in 2 susceptible strains--Oka and a wild-type isolate.

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