The Epidemiology of Enteroviruses

International and local Scottish data illustrate the epidemiology of enteroviruses in recent years. Polioviruses still predominate as causes of serious paralytic disease, except where controlled by vaccination and require continuing surveillance. Aseptic meningitis is the commonest reported illness due to enterovirus infection, but notable clinical manifestations of certain types (particularly coxsackie group A) involve the skin and mucous membranes and the respiratory tract. Gastrointestinal disturbance has been reported in some echovirus infections, and cardiac disease is particularly associated with group B coxsackie virus infections. Although most enterovirus infections are silent or trivial in severity, the trend towards periodic epidemicity of different enteroviruses involving older age-groups may entail the emergence of new disease problems of which heart disease may be one example.

A six-year study of coxsackievirus B infections in heart disease

SUMMARYVirological examination of 385 patients with suspected heart disease and 26 with Bornholmdisease over a period of 6 years suggested that Coxsackie group B virus infections were associated with at least half the cases of acute myocarditis and one third of the cases ofacute non-bacterial pericarditis. Complement-fixation tests revealed only a few cardiac illnesses associated with other infections (influenza and Mycoplasma pneumoniae). No evidence of infection was found in chronic cardiac disease.