Circulation of enterovirus A71 during 2019–2020, Marseille, France

Abstract

Enteroviruses A71 (EVs‐A71) are known to cause serious neurological infections, especially in the paediatric population. We report here eight cases of EV‐A71 infection diagnosed in Marseille over the past two years (seven cases in 2019 and one case in 2020). Only children under 5 years of age were affected, including one case of acute flaccid paralysis. Viral RNA was detected by RT‐PCR in peripheral samples for all cases (faeces and upper respiratory samples). Phylogenetic analyses based on VP1 and 2C3C coding regions revealed that all these cases of EV‐A71 infection were caused by viruses belonging to the subgenogroup C1 that currently circulates in Europe and that these viruses are genetically closed to other EVs‐A71 recently detected in European countries. These data therefore reinforce the usefulness of enterovirus surveillance network and the need of systematic screening for EV‐A71 in case of enteroviral infection. This study therefore suggests that the systematic screening for EV‐A71 in case of enteroviral infection could provide additional data for enterovirus surveillance networks.