Pathogen surveillance of enterovirus infections in Korea, 2017

Yoon Youngsil, Lee Yong-Pyo, Lee Deog-Yong, Choi Wooyoung, Kang Chun
Division of Viral Diseases, Center for Laboratory Control of Infectious Disease, KCDC
Lee June-Woo, Yoo Jung Sik
Division of Vaccine Research, Center for Infectious Disease Research, KNIH, KCDC

Enterovirus is the main cause of aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), and herpangina. In recent years, enterovirus outbreaks have been frequently associated with some particular serotypes. We analyzed the genetic characteristics of specimens from patients showing enterovirus-associated symptoms in Korea in 2017.
A total of 1,848 clinical specimens were collected from patients who were suspected of enterovirus infections in 2017. Enterovirus detection was performed using real-time reverse tranion polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and nested RT-PCR, while virus species and serotypes were evaluated based on VP1 gene sequence. The overall positive rate for enterovirus was 26.5% (489/1,848). Among 489 enterovirus-positive cases, the most frequent serotype was CV-B4 (14.1%, 69/489), followed by CV-A5 (13.1%, 64/489), CV-A10 (10.0%, 49/489), and CV-B2 (8.2%, 40/489). The symptom-based detection rate of enterovirus was 24.8% (238/961) for aseptic meningitis, 62.7% (151/241) for HFMD and herpangina, and 14.3% (6/42) for HFMD with complications.
At present, there are no specific anti-viral treatments for enterovirus infections. By providing surveillance data of enterovirus infections, this study may encourage further research on the development of vaccines and therapeutics against enterovirus.

Keywords: Enterovirus, Pathogen surveillance, Aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, HFMD, Herpangina, Serotypes