title: Molecular epidemiology of Coxsackievirus B3.
abstract: Molecular epidemiological characteristics are needed to understand the impact of Coxsackievirus B3 (CV-B3) infection, since no CV-B3 genotyping literature is available. Twenty-nine CV-B3 Taiwan strains obtained from 1992 to 2005 were analyzed. A phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the 290 nucleotide sequence of the VP1 gene of Taiwan isolates and in 91 other CV-B3 GenBank sequences. Five genotypes (GI-GV) were depicted. The GI, GII, and GIII were dominant in America and Europe, whereas GIV and GV were prevalent in Asia. In Taiwan, a transient outbreak of GIV occurred in 2000, while GV has been the main genotype circulating since 1992. Patient age ranged from 0.1 to 81 months (median, 4.3 months). The male:female ratio was 1.9:1. More than 60% (17/29) of cases involved children younger than 1 year. Half of them contracted respiratory tract infection (12/24). Nine of the 24 (37.5%) cases with available medical records had central nervous system (CNS) involvement. Eight of the nine patients were younger than 3 months. The CV-B3 has evolved and circulated for the past 60 years. Although the nucleotide sequence of the VP1 is highly variably, amino acids were relatively conserved within the same genotype of CV-B3. CNS infections were not associated with a specific strain or genotype. The CV-B3 poses a significant health threat to children younger than 1 year, especially those younger than 3 months old.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biomedical Laboratory Science, College of Health Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pei-Yu
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: Guan-Ming
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.forename: Yao-Shen
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Po-Liang
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Hsiu-Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Min-Sheng
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Bao-Chen
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tsi-Shu
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yu-Chen
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Li-Chiu
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Sheng-Yu
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Kuei-Hsiang
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000569:Americas / Q000453:epidemiology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003384:Coxsackievirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D029822:Enterovirus B, Human / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology