Acute flaccid myelitis in Switzerland – association with enterovirus D68

Abstract


 
 Poliomyelitis-like acute flaccid myelitis associated with enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) has emerged globally during the past decade. Here we describe the first documented case reported from Switzerland, and a second, suspected case occurring in temporal association. AFM occurs primarily in children, is usually heralded by a febrile, respiratory prodrome followed by acute-onset, usually asymmetrical, limb weakness with some predilection for the upper extremities, and respiratory muscle compromise in one third of reported cases. There is no specific therapy and the majority of cases result in permanent neurological sequelae. A comprehensive diagnostic workup and timely reporting to the health authorities are essential. Surveillance of respiratory and stool samples for EV-D68 and other neurotropic enteroviruses is in place in several European countries and warrants consideration in Switzerland. This could entail the extension of the poliomyelitis surveillance program of the Federal Office of Public Health by monitoring and enteroviral typing of respiratory samples from patients with acute flaccid paralysis.

Multicenter benchmarking of short and long read wet lab protocols for clinical viral metagenomics

“…This report aims to assist the implementation of viral metagenomics for pathogen detection in clinical diagnostic settings by providing insight into the efficacy of platforms and key protocol steps. Gradel et al 20 Bigi et al 21 Gradel et al 22 Rodriguez et al 23 Penner et al 24 Morfopoulou et al 25 Atkinson et al2023 18 Alawi et al 26 Kufner et al 5 Narat et al 27 Vallet et al 28 Garzaro 29 and Aboudar et al 30 Cinek et al 31 Mourik et al 19 Carbo et al 11 Reyes et al 32 De Kleine et al 33 Vanmechelen et al 34 Wollants et al 35 Vanmechelen et al 36 Van Boheemen et al 6 Pichler et al 37 a; pre-nucleic acid extraction enrichment was applied to the ATCC Virome Mix dilutions containing whole viruses. WTA; whole transcriptome amplification, SISPA; sequence-independent, single-primer amplification.…”

Seroprevalence of Enterovirus D68 Infection among Humans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In addition, EV-D68 infection can cause serious neurological complications and even death [4,5]. Recently, acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) due to EV-D68 infection has been found in Switzerland, China, the USA, France, and Japan [6][7][8][9][10]. Furthermore, EV-D68 cases with concomitant neural dysfunction have also been reported [11].…”

“…Overall, there is a lack of systematic and comprehensive surveillance and documentation of EV-D68 prevalence globally, and latent infection of EV-D68 is not being taken seriously. Acute flaccid paralysis caused by EV-D68 infection is increasing, and there is currently a lack of effective drugs and vaccines against the virus [ 6 , 20 , 21 ]. Therefore, it is very important to further strengthen the understanding of virus serology for disease prevention.…”