Enterovirus A71 Associated with Neurologic Disease Outbreak

Enteroviruses (EV), including type A71, are the cause of several syndromes that mostly affect children younger than 5 years and that occur in the spring to fall months in North America. Among these syndromes are gastroenteritis, pharyngitis, exanthems such as so-called hand, foot, and mouth disease, and severe neurologic syndromes including meningitis, encephalitis, and a polio-like acute flaccid myelitis (AFM).

In May 2018, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported a sharp increase in pediatric encephalitis and meningitis cases and a coincident rise in EV detection. In 34 children with neurologic disease, EV-A71 was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. In the first 13 EV-A71–positive children,…