Title | Enterovirus D68 infection among hospitalized children with severe acute respiratory illness in El Salvador and Panama, 2012-2013. | ||
Author | Biggs, Holly M; Nix, W Allan; Zhang, Jing; Rogers, Shannon; Clara, Wilfrido; Jara, Jorge H; Gonzalez, Rosalba; Luciani, Kathia; Brizuela, Yarisa Sujey; Estripeaut, Dora; Castillo, Juan Miguel; De Leon, Tirza; Corro, Mary; Vergara, Ofelina; Rauda, Rafael; Chong, Evens G; Watson, John T; Azziz-Baumgartner, Eduardo; Gerber, Susan I; Tong, Suxiang; Dawood, Fatimah S | ||
Journal | Influenza Other Respir Viruses | Publication Year/Month | 2021-Mar |
PMID | 33280235 | PMCID | PMC7902261 |
Affiliation + expend | 1.National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA. |
We assessed EV-D68 epidemiology and phylogenetics among children aged </=9 years hospitalized with severe acute respiratory illnesses at five sites in Panama and El Salvador during 2012-2013. Respiratory specimens positive for enterovirus or rhinovirus were tested by real-time RT-PCR for EV-D68, and partial VP1 gene sequences were determined. Of 715 enrolled children, 17 from sites in both countries were EV-D68-positive and commonly had a history of asthma or wheezing. Phylogenetically, 15 of 16 sequences fell into Clade B1, and one into Clade A2. The Central American EV-D68s were closely related genetically to contemporaneous strains from North America, South America, and the Caribbean.