Since April 2016, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom (Wales) have reported severe enterovirus infections associated with a variety of different strains. This rapid risk assessment considers the risk for EU/EEA countries related to severe enterovirus infections.
ECDC has published a rapid risk assessment due to a localised outbreak of neurological symptoms associated with enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) in Catalonia, Spain.
Most EV infections, including EV-A71, result in asymptomatic infection. Most symptomatic EV-A71 infections manifest as a self-limiting hand, foot and mouth disease and only a very small proportion of patients develop severe and life-threatening disease. The current outbreak is notable in terms of its magnitude and the severity of symptoms of the reported cases.
In November, France and the United Kingdom both reported sporadic cases of neurological disease involving enterovirus 68 (EV-D68) detection. As a result, ECDC has updated its rapid risk assessment on EV-D68, first triggered by reports from North America. To date, European acute flaccid paralysis (AFP)/enhanced enterovirus surveillance has not detected unusual clusters or unexpected trends.
Since mid-August 2014 local health authorities in the USA have notified the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of 691 laboratory-confirmed enterovirus 68 (EV-D68) infections.
The EU/EEA countries have a moderate risk of transmission of the Enterovirus D-68 (EV-D68), although no increase of acute respiratory infections or hospital admissions has been reported so far this year, according to a new risk assessment published today by ECDC. The report also indicates that the likelihood for cases to be detected in EU/EEA is low because most countries do not routinely screen for EV-D68, and the disease is not notifiable.
An outbreak of aseptic meningitis associated to a kindergarten in Suceava city in northern Romania has been reported. A total of 62 cases of enterovirus have been reported identified in the city and wider district, 53 cases of which have led to aseptic meningitis. ECDC has prepared a rapid risk assessment on the outbreak