Key result
Sequence analysis of ocular swabs from patients with acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis revealed 99% identity with coxsackievirus A24 variant, identifying it as the outbreak's causative agent.
Observational (n=28)
The 2011 outbreak of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis in The Gambia was likely caused by the coxsackievirus A24 variant.
May guide enteroviral testing in future outbreaks; extends sparse African sequence data for surveillance.
OBJECTIVE: An outbreak of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis occurred in The Gambia, West Africa in 2011. Affected individuals presented with conjunctival haemorrhages, swelling and ocular discharge. In an effort to identify a causative agent of the disease, ocular swabs were taken from patients during the acute and convalescent phases. Total RNA was extracted from all samples and reverse-transcriptase PCR performed using primers specific for all enteroviruses. Resulting amplicons were sequenced and data compared to known sequences using the BLAST algorithm. RESULTS: Forty-eight swabs were included in the analysis. Of these, 21 acute and 9 convalescent swabs (65% of the total) gave positive PCR results. Sequence analysis of the resulting amplicons indicated 99% sequence identity with coxsackievirus A24 variant identified during independent outbreaks of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis around the world and suggest the Gambian outbreak was due to this virus.
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Burr et al. (2017) conducted an observational in Acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis (n=28). Coxsackievirus A24 variant infection was evaluated on Positive PCR result for enterovirus and sequence identification. Sequence analysis of ocular swabs from patients with acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis revealed 99% identity with coxsackievirus A24 variant, identifying it as the outbreak's causative agent.
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