Enterovirus 68 among children with severe acute respiratory infection, the Philippines

• Published in: Emerging infectious diseases Vol. 17; no. 8; pp. 1430 - 1435
• Main Authors: Imamura, Tadatsugu, Fuji, Naoko, Suzuki, Akira, Tamaki, Raita, Saito, Mariko, Aniceto, Rapunzel, Galang, Hazel, Sombrero, Lydia, Lupisan, Soccoro, Oshitani, Hitoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases 01.08.2011; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Care and treatment; Child; Child Mortality; Child, Preschool; children; Demographic aspects; enterovirus 68; Enterovirus D, Human - classification; Enterovirus D, Human - genetics; Enterovirus D, Human - isolation & purification; Enterovirus diseases; Enterovirus Infections - epidemiology; Enterovirus Infections - mortality; Enterovirus Infections - physiopathology; Enterovirus Infections - virology; Female; Genetic aspects; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; human enterovirus D; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Male; Methods; Molecular Sequence Data; Nucleotide sequencing; Philippines; Philippines - epidemiology; Phylogeny; pneumonia; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - mortality; Pneumonia, Viral - physiopathology; Pneumonia, Viral - virology; Polymerase Chain Reaction; respiratory infections; Respiratory tract infections; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Severity of Illness Index; Philippines
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059
• DOI: 10.3201/eid1708.101328

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.