Author/Editor     Poelman, Randy; Schuffenecker, Isabelle; Van Leer-Buter, Coretta; Josset, Laurence; Niesters, Hubert G.M.; Lina, Bruno; Berginc, Nataša
Title     European surveillance for enterovirus D68 during the emerging North-American outbreak in 2014
Type     članek
Vol. and No.     , št. Vol. 71
Publication year     2015
Volume     str. 1-9
ISSN     1386-6532 - Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology
Language     eng
Abstract     Background In August and September 2014, unexpected clusters of enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68) infections associated with severe respiratory disease emerged from North-America. In September, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) asked European countries to strengthen respiratory sample screening for enterovirus detection and typing in cases with severe respiratory presentations. Objectives To provide a detailed picture of EV-D68 epidemiology in Europe by conducting a retrospective and prospective laboratory analysis of clinical specimens. Study design An initiative supported by the European Society for Clinical Virology (ESCV) and ECDC was launched to screen for EV-D68 in respiratory specimens between July 1st and December 1st 2014 in Europe and to sequence the VP1 region of detected viruses for phylogenetic analytic purposes. Results Forty-two institutes, representing 51 laboratories from 17 European countries, analyzed 17,248 specimens yielding 389 EV-D68 positive samples (2.26%) in 14 countries. The proportion of positive samples ranged between 0 and 25% per country. These infections resulted primarily in mild respiratory disease, mainly detected in young children presenting with wheezing and in immuno-compromised adults. The viruses detected in Europe are genetically very similar to those of the North-American epidemic and the majority (83%) could be assigned to clade B. Except for 3 acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases, one death and limited ICU admissions, no severe cases were reported. Conclusions The European study showed that EV-D68 circulated in Europe during summer and fall of 2014 with a moderate disease burden and different pathogenic profile compared to the North-American epidemic.
Keywords     enterovirus D68
respiratory infection
molecular epidemiology
enterovirus D68
okužba dihal
molekularna epidemiologija