A study of enterovirus isolations in Glasgow from 1977 to 1997

The number and range of enteroviruses isolated in the Regional Virus Laboratory, Glasgow during 1977-1997 was determined. Over this period, 3,039 enterovirus isolations were reported. The echoviruses represented 67% of isolations with echovirus 4 (due to an outbreak in 1990), echovirus 30 and echovirus 11 being the most frequently isolated types. The pattern of prevalence of non-polio enteroviruses had changed from the previous 20-year period with echovirus types isolated more often (77% vs. 55.4%) and coxsackieviruses isolated less often (23% vs. 44.6%). The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) introduced into the routine diagnostic service in 1996 increased the detection of enteroviruses from cerebrospinal fluid samples compared with traditional cell culture methods. Finally, the 5' nontranslated region (NTR, bases 63-475) and the VP4/VP2 region (bases 581-1199) of selected echovirus 30 and coxsackie B3 isolates were sequenced. These represented endemic and epidemic types respectively and were shown to be closely related within their type, but different from the published sequences. The current echovirus 30 strains differed from 1966 isolates by 16-20% in both the 5' NTR and VP4/VP2 regions. The coxsackie B3 isolates, predominant in 1997 after 5 years of absence, were also dissimilar from previously isolated strains, causing a small outbreak.