Echoviruses

Enteroviruses have been subdivided on the basis of antigenic relationships and differences in host range into polioviruses , coxsackieviruses groups A and B, and echoviruses.

Echoviruses are RNA viruses of the genus Enterovirus and the family Picornaviridae.

The echoviruses (enterocytopathogenic human orphan viruses) were isolated from faecal specimens of healthy children.

They produce cytopathic effects in primate cell cultures, but at isolation they were nonpathogenic for suckling mice or primates.

They are immunologically distinct from polioviruses and have been associated with a variety of diseases including nonspecific febrile illnesses with or without respiratory symptoms, aseptic meningitis, paralysis and encephalitis, exanthema, generalized disease of new-born and neonatal diarrhea.

They also have been associated with chronic meningo-encephalitis in agammaglobulinemic patients.

Abstracts:

Molecular epidemiology of echoviruses 11 and 13, based on an environmental surveillance conducted in Toyama Prefecture, 2002-2003.Appl Environ Microbiol. 2006 Sep;72(9):6381-7.

Echovirus 4 associated to hand, foot and mouth disease.Rev Inst Med Trop Sao Paulo. 2006 Jul-Aug;48(4):197-9.

Cumulative mutations in the genome of Echovirus 6 during establishment of a chronic infection in precursors of glial cells.Virus Genes. 2005 Jan;30(1):103-12.

Three ECHOvirus serotypes responsible for outbreak of aseptic meningitis in Rhone-Alpes region, France.Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis. 2003 Mar;22(3):191-3. Epub 2003 Mar 4

Laboratory diagnosis and genetic analysis of an echovirus 30-associated outbreak of aseptic meningitis in Taiwan in 2001.J Clin Microbiol. 2002 Dec;40(12):4439-44

First epidemic of echovirus 16 meningitis in Cuba.Emerg Infect Dis. 2001 Sep-Oct;7(5):887-9