Enterovirus detection and serotyping of fecal material collected from three children living on the outskirts of Belém city, Amazon region, Brazil, during the first 3 years of life (1983‐1986)

Abstract

In the current investigation, fecal material was obtained during a community‐based longitudinal study conducted from 1983 to 1986. This study consisted of 71 children aged newborn to 3 years. A total of 216 samples from three of these children were screened by real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR) for the presence of enteroviruses, and positive samples were serotyped by VP1 and VP3 sequencing of the viral genome. Of these, 12 (5.6%) came from symptomatic cases, and the remaining asymptomatic cases were collected fortnightly during the 3 years of study. A positivity of 63.4% (137/216) was obtained by RT‐qPCR, with 58.3% (7/12) in relation to the symptomatic group and 63.7% (130/204) in relation to the asymptomatic group. The 137 positive samples were inoculated into the RD, HEp2C, and L20B cell lines, and the cytopathic effect was observed in 37.2% (51/137) samples. It was also possible to identify 40.9% (56/137), between isolated (n = 46) and nonisolated (n = 10). Enterovirus serotype diversity (n = 25) was identified in this study, with the predominant species being B (80.3%), followed by C (16.1%) and A (3.6%). Cases of reinfection by different serotypes were also observed in the three children studied. Analyses involving different age groups of these minors confirmed that the most affected age was between 12 to 24 months, with a prevalence of 77.6% (52/67). The enterovirus (EV) circulated in the 3 years of research, showed peaks in some months, without defined seasonality. This study demonstrated a high circulation and serotype diversity of EV in fecal samples, collected over 30 years ago. This endorsed the evaluation of important points of the epidemiology of these viruses, such as the presence of coinfection and reinfection of the same individual by different circulating serotypes. Understanding the frequency and duration of EV infections is important in determining their association with persistent diarrhea.

Detection and identification of enteroviruses circulating in children with acute gastroenteritis in Pará State, Northern Brazil (2010–2011)

“…In general, we were able to identify EV type in 78.3% (36/46) of the samples, which revealed a detection pattern EV-B (61.1%; 22/36) > EV-C (25%; 9/36) > EV-A (13.9%; 5/36) (Table 2 ). These findings were similar to previous reports that showed EV-B species more frequently detected than EV-C and EV-A species in children with AGE [ 18 – 20 ]. Some EV positive samples in rRT-PCR could not be typed (8/46; 17.4%) due to failure to produce amplicons.…”

Diversity of picornaviruses detected in diarrheal samples from children in Belém, Brazilian Amazon (1982–2019)

“…This study demonstrated a high prevalence (76.5%) of picornavirus in human feces, and a relevant factor of this finding is the fact that some of the samples were older (>30 years), in addition to being of children who lived in peripheral regions and who had precarious basic sanitation conditions. Moreover, the detection of EV was a preponderant factor for the high rate found, since its prevalence was the highest among the viruses studied, corroborating preliminary studies carried out in this same region, where a prevalence of 63% of EV was obtained in fecal samples of children under 3 years old 37 …”

“…AiV/SalV, five (2.1%) of the 234 samples tested by RT-qPCR were positive, with high C t values(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38). However, they were negative in nested PCR, avoiding sequencing and characterization of these samples for the presence of human Kobuvirus and Salivirus.…”

Simultaneous enterovirus EV-D68 and CVA6 infections causing acute respiratory distress syndrome and hand, foot and mouth disease

“…Furthermore, even though the occurrence of infection by a single EV-type can result in severe clinical syndromes, the EV-coinfection can lead to increased possibility of developing complications and severe clinical aspects of disease [27]. Interestingly, previous work have demonstrated that the co-circulation of a high number of different NPEV types can favors recombination events as well as the emergence of the atypical clinical presentations and the severity of disease [28][29][30][31][32]. Additionally, the cross-neutralizing antibodies against different EV-types is not commonly observed, mainly in children ≤ 6 years [32].…”