title: Enterovirus 68 among children with severe acute respiratory infection, the Philippines.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadatsugu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imamura
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fuji
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Raita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tamaki
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: Rapunzel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aniceto
authors.forename: Hazel
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Galang
authors.forename: Lydia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sombrero
authors.forename: Soccoro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lupisan
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Oshitani
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D046688:Child Mortality; D002675:Child, Preschool; D030016:Enterovirus D, Human / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004769:Enterovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010679:Philippines / Q000453:epidemiology; D010802:Phylogeny; D011024:Pneumonia, Viral / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012720:Severity of Illness Index