Seroepidemiological and phylogenetic characterization of neurotropic enteroviruses in Ireland, 2005-2014.

Enteroviruses (EVs) are associated with a broad spectrum of clinical presentation, including aseptic meningitis (AM), encephalitis, hand, foot and mouth disease, acute flaccid paralysis, and acute flaccid myelitis. Epidemics occur sporadically and are associated with increased cases of AM in children. The present study describes the seroepidemiological analysis of circulating EVs in Ireland from 2005 to 2014 and phylogenetic characterization of echovirus 30 (E-30), enterovirus A71 (EV-A71), and enterovirus D68 (EV-D68).

Mumps outbreaks in a highly vaccinated population: Investigation of a neutralization titre against the current circulating wildtype genotype G5 mumps virus.

Background: Mumps outbreaks continue to occur globally, despite high levels of uptake of the mumps vaccine.

Objectives: In order to address immunity to the current circulating wildtype virus, we sought to determine a mumps G5 specific IgG quantitative value which correlates with genotype G5 specific neutralization ability in vitro.

Study Design: Sera from 199 individuals including controls and acute mumps cases were assessed for mumps specific IgG titres using five different enzyme immunoassays coated with antigen from different mumps virus strains.

Molecular epidemiology of human metapneumovirus in Ireland.

Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a cause of respiratory illness ranging from wheezing to bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children. A quantitative real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay was developed for the detection of all four main genetic lineages of hMPV and employed to validate an indirect immunofluorescence (IF) assay to detect hMPV positive specimens. The IF assay detected 24 positives from a screen of 625 randomly selected pediatric respiratory specimens collected (3.