Evaluation of combining upper respiratory tract swab samples with cerebrospinal fluid examination for the diagnosis of enteroviral meningitis in children

Abstract

In a prospective comparative study, the use of combined analysis of upper respiratory tract swab samples and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples was assessed to improve the detection rate of enteroviral meningitis in children. An enterovirus was detected in 32% of patients with aseptic meningitis when testing CSF samples alone compared with 71.5% when combining CSF and respiratory tract findings. An enterovirus was detected in 17% of respiratory tract samples in an age- and sex-matched control group without meningitis. Thus, combining the examination of upper respiratory tract with CSF findings may improve the detection rate of enteroviral meningitis. Upper respiratory tract samples should be included in the diagnosis scheme to differentiate benign enteroviral meningitis from other life-threatening infections of the central nervous system.

Reduced Frequency of HLA DRB1*03‐DQB1*02 in Children with Type 1 Diabetes Associated with Enterovirus RNA

“…The nucleotide sequences of EV-71 isolates from the study were aligned with published sequences from outbreaks of hand, foot, and mouth disease and EV-71 infections in Southeast Asia that occurred during 1997-1998 [38][39][40] (data not shown). Sequence homology between EV-71 isolates was 81%-99%.…”

Rapid detection of human parechoviruses in clinical samples by real-time PCR

“…A rapid HPeV or EV diagnosis is needed to avoid inappropriate treatment of suspected bacterial meningitis or herpes encephalitis and to decrease duration of hospital stay (Foray et al, 1999;Nigrovic and Chiang, 2000;Rotbart, 1995). For rapid detection of all known HPeV types, we have developed and validated an HPeV specific real-time assay based on the 5 UTR.…”

Development and evaluation of a ‘real‐time’ RT‐PCR for the detection of enterovirus and parechovirus RNA in CSF and throat swab samples

“…Rapid diagnosis is therefore important for appropriate patient management, especially as effective antivirals such as pleconaril are becoming available for enterovirus infection [Rotbart and Webster, 2001]. An early positive enterovirus diagnosis can lead to the avoidance of inappropriate treatment of suspected bacterial meningitis or herpes encephalitis [Foray et al, 1999] as well as reducing the duration of hospitalization [Nigrovic and Chiang, 2000].…”