Pathological examinations of an enterovirus 71 infection: an autopsy case

We report an 8-month-old female infant with the fatal enterovirus 71 infection here. Clinically, she developed respiratory failure and severe pulmonary edema rapidly. Histologically, the lung specimen showed diffuse, severe pulmonary congestion and edema with focal intra-alveolar hemorrhage and typical features of acute encephalitis were easily identified under light microscope. Immunohistochemically, enterovirus 71 antigen was positive in the cerebella and brainstem. We measured the viral loads of different tissues and found that the brainstem and mesenteric lymph nodes showed the highest viral loads among all tissues. We hope that our case report may help to have a better understanding of the enterovirus 71 infection and provide clues to the prevention and treatment of this disease.