Emerg Infect Dis. Enterovirus 68 among Children with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection, the Philippines

[Giuseppe]

[Source: Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]

Volume 17, Number 8?August 2011
Research

Enterovirus 68 among Children with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection, the Philippines



Tadatsugu Imamura, Naoko Fuji, Akira Suzuki, Raita Tamaki, Mariko Saito, Rapunzel Aniceto, Hazel Galang, Lydia Sombrero, Soccoro Lupisan, and Hitoshi Oshitani
Author affiliations: Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan (T. Imamura, N. Fuji, A. Suzuki, H. Oshitani); Tohoku-Research Institute for Tropical Medicine Collaborating Research Center on Emerging and Reemerging Diseases, Muntinlupa City, the Philippines (R. Tamaki, M. Saito, R. Aniceto); Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, Tacloban City, the Philippines (R. Aniceto); and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Muntinlupa City (H. Galang, L. Sombrero, S. Lupisan)



Abstract

Enterovirus 68 (EV68) is a rare enterovirus associated with respiratory illness that, unlike other enteroviruses, has been identified only from respiratory specimens. We identified EV68 from respiratory specimens of children hospitalized with a diagnosis of severe pneumonia in Leyte, Republic of the Philippines. Twenty-one samples showed high similarity with EV68 by sequencing of 5′ nontranslated region; 17 of these samples were confirmed as EV68 by sequencing of viral protein 1 capsid coding region. Most previously reported EV68 cases had been identified as sporadic cases. All 21 patients we identified had severe illness, and 2 died, possibly the first reported fatal cases associated with EV68 infection. Our study suggests that EV68 may be a possible causative agent of severe respiratory illnesses.
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[Story]

Re: Emerg Infect Dis. Enterovirus 68 among Children with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection, the Philippines

It?s not a new virus, but doctors need to keep an eye out for one that?s not usually on the radar screen, federal health officials said on Thursday. It?s called human enterovirus 68, or HEV68, and it can cause an unusually severe type of cold that can even kill in some cases.
The virus has been around for decades, but for some reason it?s been causing clusters of serious illness over the past three years, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
Three people, two in the Philippines and one in Japan, died from an HEV68 outbreak during 2008-2010, CDC and other scientists report in this week?s newsletter on illness and death. There were also several clusters of the virus outbreak in the United States that sent batches of patients to the hospital, including in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/healthcare/-new-virus-catches-cdc-s-eye-20110929