Inter-population variability of Longidorus euonymus Mali and Hooper, 1974 (Nematoda, Dorylaimida) and comment upon the number of juvenile developmental stages

Longidorus euonymus is distributed widely in central and southern Europe. Nematodes typically have four pre-adult stages, however, there has been confusion in the scientific literature with regard to the number of juvenile developmental stages (JDS) of L. euonymus with three and four JDS being reported. A principal component analysis of published morphometric data from 33 L. euonymus populations unequivocally showed that there were four juvenile developmental stages. Furthermore, 18S rDNA sequence analysis indicated that L. euonymus was more closely related to L. elongatus and L. attenuatus than to L. vineacola. This was in discordance with the original description of the species; however, the maximum likelihood distances between the species were relatively small

Inter-population variability of Longidorus euonymus Mali and Hooper, 1974 (Nematoda, Dorylaimida) and comment upon the number of juvenile developmental stages

Longidorus euonymus is distributed widely in central and southern Europe. Nematodes typically have four pre-adult stages, however, there has been confusion in the scientific literature with regard to the number of juvenile developmental stages (JDS) of L. euonymus with three and four JDS being reported. A principal component analysis of published morphometric data from 33 L. euonymus populations unequivocally showed that there were four juvenile developmental stages. Furthermore, 18S rDNA sequence analysis indicated that L. euonymus was more closely related to L. elongatus and L. attenuatus than to L. vineacola. This was in discordance with the original description of the species; however, the maximum likelihood distances between the species were relatively small

Improving global virologic surveillance for measles and rubella.

An important aspect of laboratory surveillance for measles and rubella is the genetic characterization of circulating wild-type viruses to support molecular epidemiologic studies and to track transmission pathways. Virologic surveillance that is sufficient to document the interruption of transmission of measles and rubella viruses will be an essential criterion for verification of elimination. Laboratories in the World Health Organization (WHO) Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network have worked to improve and expand virologic surveillance as many regions move toward elimination of measles and rubella/congenital rubella syndrome. As countries approach elimination, it will be necessary to obtain genetic information from as many chains of transmission as possible. In addition, baseline virologic surveillance, especially for rubella, needs to be improved in many countries. This report contains a summary of recent improvements to the methods used for virologic surveillance