Enterovirus 71 infection and acute neurological disease among children in Brazil (1988–1990)

Surveillance for Enterovirus 71 (EV-71) infection in children up to 15 years of age was carried out in Brazil, from 1988 to 1990. Patients with acute neurological diseases (AND) such as flaccid paralysis, Bell's palsy, acute cerebellar ataxia and Guillain-Barré syndrome were included in the study. EV-71 infection was detected in 24 of 426 children (5.6%) with AND. EV-71 infection was confirmed only by virus isolation in 13 children, by virus isolation and seroconversion in 4, and by seroconversion alone in 7. EV-71 was also isolated from 15 of the 427 household contacts (3.5%) of 165 AND patients. There was some evidence of high infectivity of EV-71: household clusters were detected in the case of 7 of 24 children (29.1%) infected with EV-71 and manifesting AND; EV-71 was isolated from 11/40 household contacts (27.5%) of the infected patients but from only 4/387 household contacts (1.0%) of children in whom it was not possible to demonstrate EV-71 infection. Seven of the 24 children infected with EV-71 exhibited residual motor deficiency when examined 6 months after the disease onset. The relevance of these results for the Plan for Global Eradication of Wild Poliovirus is discussed, as well as the need to increase knowledge about the behaviour of this virus and its possible association with AND.