Detection of enteroviruses in cases of neurological disorders in the State of Pará, Brazil

Abstract

Eighty-one cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples mainly from cases of aseptic meningitis and motor deficiency syndrome were sent to the Virology Section of Evandro Chagas Institute, Belém Pará, in the period of January 1995 to January 1996 in order to isolate viruses. All samples were inoculated onto HEp-2 cell culture and newborn mice, with negative results. The probability of isolating viruses by these methods is reduced because of the low concentration of viral particles in these specimens. In order to obtain more information about the etiology of these cases, a group of 23 samples were selected to be tested by a more sensitive technique than the virus isolation - the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Specific primers directed to conserved regions in the enterovirus genome were used, considering that this group of viruses is frequently associated with these neurological disorder. The age of the patients ranged from 1 to 55 years and nearly all of them lived in Belém, State of Pará, North of Brazil. Of 15 samples analyzed by RT PCR nine (60%) were positive; of these, 6 (66.6%) had motor deficiency and 3 (33.3%) developed aseptic meningitis. These results show that it is important to investigate enterovirus as cause of these syndromes.

Enteroviral Meningitis and Concurrent Peripheral Motor Axonal Polyneuropathy

“…5 In a more recent case series of enteroviral meningitis from Brazil, 2 cases of GBS in which enterovirus was detected in the CSF by real-time reverse transcription PCR were described. 6 The present report extends these observations and provides further information regarding clinical course and electrodiagnostic findings.…”

Echovirus 30 associated with cases of aseptic meningitis in state of Pará, Northern Brazil

“…In the past, polioviruses were detected in meningitis cases and Echo 9 was responsible for an outbreak of meningitis that occurred in São Paulo (SP) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ) in 1967and 1978, respectively (Godoy et al 1967, Nery-Guimarães et al 1981. Other serotypes of Echo were found together with coxsackievirus B, EV 71 and no typed EV in cases of meningitis that occurred in three different Brazilian cities: Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Belém, state of Pará (PA) and Salvador, state of Bahia (BA) (Bedoya et al 1998, Gomes et al 2001, Ferreira et al 2002, Silva et al 2002, Lamarão et al 2005, Gomes et al 2007). In Brazil, Echo 30 has been associated with outbreaks and with frequent and sporadic cases of meningitis.…”

Echovirus 6 associated to aseptic meningitis outbreak, in São Joaquim da Barra, São Paulo, Brazil

“…Since the past decade, the number of studies regarding AM associated with HEV has markedly increased worldwide (8). The most prevalent HEV serotypes found in several epidemiological studies conducted between 1992 and 2006 were E-9 and E-6 in Australia (1), E-6 in the United States (3,26), E-30, E-13, E-18, E-6, CV-B5 and E-11 in Belgium (29), E-6, E-13 and E-30 in the French Rhone Alps (6), E-6 in Cyprus, and E-30 and E-6 in Madrid (21,22).…”