Genetic Alteration in a Temperature-Sensitive Mutant of Respiratory Syncytial Virus After Replication in Vivo

Abstract

Summary In the course of a clinical trial of a temperature-sensitive mutant RSV vaccine, a proportion of the virus recovered exhibited genetic alteration. Some of the altered virus showed a temperature-sensitivity pattern intermediate between that of the temperature-sensitive vaccine virus and the temperature-insensitive wild type. Possible genetic mechanisms which might have produced these findings are discussed.