Molecular diagnosis of enterovirus infections in Chungnam Korea in 2010

The epidemiological data of enteroviruses isolated in Chungnam, Korea since 2005 has been reported, and this current study extends these observations in 2010. During this period, 178 of the total 920 samples (19.3%) were positive for enterovirus, and the types were identified using nucleotide sequence analysis in VP1. The temporal distribution was similar to previously reported data, however, coxsackievirus A6 and coxsackievirus B5 showed different patterns in detail.  Children aged < 1 year accounted for 89 (50%) of the total 178 isolates. Most coxsackievirus A6, coxsackievirus A9 and enterovirus 71 isolates were identified in children < 5, < 6 and < 4 years old, respectively. CVB5 was distributed evenly in children < 7 years old. Enterovirus serotypes were identified by sequence determination of the VP1 region, which resolved the isolated enteroviruses into 16 types in 2010; coxsackievirus A4, A5, A6, A9, A10, A12, A16, B2, B3, B4, B5, echovirus 17, 18, 25, 30 and enterovirus 71. The prevalent enterovirus types were coxsackievirus A6 (14.6%), B5 (15.7%), and enterovirus 71 (15.7%). This is the first time E17 has been identified in Korea since surveillance began in 1993. The presentations of enterovirus-infected patients were respiratory illness (30.3%), septicemia (19.7%), central nervous system infections (16.3%), gastrointestinal infections (11.2%), herpangina or hand-foot-mouth disease (10.7%), and genitourinary (5.6%).    Key words: Enterovirus, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), epidemiology, molecular type.