Epidemiological, molecular, and clinical features of enterovirus respiratory infections in French children between 1999 and 2005.

ABSTRACT: Enteroviruses (EVs) can induce nonspecific respiratory tract infections in children, but their epidemiological, virological, and clinical features remain to be assessed. In the present study, we analyzed 252 EV-related infection cases (median age of subjects, 5.1 years) diagnosed among 11,509 consecutive children visiting emergency departments within a 7-year period in the north of France. EV strains were isolated from nasopharyngeal samples by viral cell culture, identified by seroneutralization assay, and genetically compared by partial amplification and sequencing of the VP1 gene. The respiratory syndromes (79 [31%] of 252 EV infections) appeared as the second most common EV-induced pediatric pathology after meningitis (111 [44%] of 252 cases) (44 versus 31%, P < 10(-3)), contributing t

SUBMITTER: Jacques J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2224256 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature