From April through June 1997, 29 previously healthy children aged <6 years (median, 1.5 years) in Sarawak, Malaysia, died of rapidly progressive cardiorespiratory failure during an outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease caused primarily by enterovirus 71 (EV71). The case children were hospitalized after a short illness (median duration, 2 days) that usually included fever (in 100% of case children), oral ulcers (66%), and extremity rashes (62%). The illness rapidly progressed to include seizures (28%), flaccid limb weakness (17%), or cardiopulmonary symptoms (of 24 children, 17 had chest radiographs showing pulmonary edema, and 24 had echocardiograms showing left ventricular dysfunction), resulting in cardiopulmonary arrest soon after hospitalization (median time, 9 h). Cardiac tissue from 10 patients showed normal myocardium, but central nervous system tissue from 5 patients showed inflammatory changes. Brain-stem specimens from 2 patients were available, and both specimens showed extensive neuronal degeneration, inflammation, and necrosis, suggesting that a central nervous system infection was responsible for the disease, with the cardiopulmonary dysfunction being neurogenic in origin. EV71 and possibly an adenovirus, other enteroviruses, or unknown cofactors are likely responsible for this rapidly fatal disease.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important cause of acute lower respiratory tract disease among the elderly, but national estimates of the burden of this disease have not been made. To estimate the morbidity, mortality, and medical costs of RSV-associated pneumonia among US elderly, national hospital discharge data, vital statistics, etiologic studies of adult pneumonia hospitalizations, and Medicare cost data were reviewed. In the United States, 687,000 hospitalizations and 74,000 deaths caused by pneumonia occur annually among the elderly; approximately 2%-9% of these are caused by RSV. At a cost of $11,000 per RSV pneumonia hospitalization, the estimated annual cost of RSV pneumonia hospitalizations is $150-$680 million. Exacerbations of congestive heart failure and other chronic conditions may also contribute substantially to RSV disease burden among the elderly. The total RSV disease burden is probably great enough to justify development of an RSV vaccine for use in this group.
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