title: [Status of enterovirus infection in children with acute lower respiratory tract infection].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the status of enterovirus (EV) infection in children with acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRTI).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 404 samples (with odd numbers) of nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from the children who were hospitalized in the Children's Medical Center, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital due to ALRTI between September 2007 and April 2008. The conserved sequence in the 5'-noncoding region of EV was used to design the primer, and nested RT-PCR was performed to detect EV in the samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 404 samples, 19 (4.7%) were EV-positive, and mostly taken from children under 3 years of age (95%); there was no significant difference in the detection rate between male and female children. Of the EV-positive children, 13 (68%) were clinically diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia, and 6 (32%) with bronchiolitis; 90% of them showed symptoms of fever, 84% had a cough, 63% had asthma, and 63% had complications mainly including diarrhea (6 cases), granulocytopenia (4 cases), and acute respiratory distress syndrome (2 cases). In addition, 26% of the EV-positive children had leukocyte disorder, more than half had liver dysfunction, and a few had myocardial involvement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  EV is a pathogen that should not be neglected in children with ALRTI. For these children, close attention should be paid to the epidemiological status and clinical features of EV infection, and blood routine examination, liver function test and myocardial enzyme assay should be carried out periodically to improve prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Changsha Central Hospital, Changsha 410003, China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ni-Guang
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Xiao-Fang
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Zhi-Ping
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Zhao-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Duan
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004769:Enterovirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000821:virology; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000821:virology*