Abstract
Introduction: During the summer op 2014 an outbreak of enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68) was observed in North-America. While clinical cases were rapidly accumulating, beginning in the USA no similar signal was detected in Europe. The question was raised if there was indeed no circulation of this virus in Europe, or whether the near absence of reports were due to insufficient testing or detection.
Methods: The European society for Clinical Virology launched the European EV-D68 initiative, in collaboration with the ECDC, to investigate the circulation of EV-D68 both retrospectively and prospectively. Laboratories that contributed to the initiative, tested respiratory materials for EV-D68, and collected clinical information. In addition, the VP1 frangment of isolated EV-D68 was sequenced by these laboratories, to investigate if the stains found in Europe were related to the ones found in North America.
Results: Overall, 42 laboratories from 17 countries participated. A total of 17,248 specimens were analysed, yielding 389 EV-D68 positives (2.26%) in 14 countries. The prevalence ranged between 0 to 25%. These infections were mainly detected in young children presenting with wheezing and immunocompromised adults. Te viruses were epidemiologically linked to the USA epidemic.
Conclusions: EV-D68 has been circulating all over Europe during summer and fall 2014, at an unprecedented frequency but with a very mild disease burden. Through detection and virus typing adapted tools, the European laboratories rapidly provided a clear picture of the circulation of this emerging virus.. This study emphasizes the need of a better epidemiological surveillance of respiratory pathogens.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015