Environmental Surveillance of Poliovirus and Non-polio Enteroviruses in Iran, 2017-2023: First Report of Imported Wild Poliovirus Type 1 Since 2000.

In Iran, which is at high risk of the Wild Poliovirus (WPV) and Vaccine-Derived Poliovirus (VDPV) importation due to its neighborhood with two polio endemic countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Environmental Surveillance (ES) was established in November 2017. Sistan-Balouchestan province was chosen for the ES due to its vicinity with Pakistan and Afghanistan. Five sewage collection sites in 4 cities (Zahedan, Zabol, Chabahar and Konarak) were selected in the high-risk areas.

Molecular typing of enteroviruses and parechoviruses in acute flaccid paralysis patients in Iran in 2019.

Enteroviruses (EVs) and parechoviruses (PeVs) are among the viral pathogens that can cause acute flaccid paralysis (AFP). There is not sufficient information about direct detection of EVs and PeVs in AFP patients in Iran. The aim of this study was to conduct a one-year study for direct detection and molecular typing of EVs and PeVs from stool samples of AFP patients in Iran.

Cell culture demonstrates superior sensitivity over one step real time RT PCR and nested VP1 amplification for Enteroviruses.

This study evaluated and compared the sensitivity profile of routine cell culture, nested VP1 amplification and one step real time RT PCR for Enteroviruses. Serially diluted spiked samples of four model viruses (EV71, CVA16, CVB5 and PV1) and 32 true positive samples including Poliovirus (PV1 & PV3), Coxsackie virus (CVB5, CVB3, CVB1 & CVA4, 10, 16), Echovirus (Echo 6, 7, 11, 13, 18, 25 & 30) and Enterovirus 71 (E71), and 32 true negative stool samples were subjected to cell culture, nested RT PCR and one step real time RT PCR. The result of sensitivity test indicated superior sensitivity with one step real time RT PCR (75 %, 24/32) against cell culture (71.

Human parechovirus are emerging pathogens with broad spectrum of clinical syndromes in adults.

Parechoviruses are emerging pathogens of humans often affecting the pediatric age group, with a growing line of evidence implicating them as agents of a broad spectrum of clinical syndromes in adults. However, because many clinicians are not familiar with the manifestation of the infections, they are not included in the list of diagnostic pathogens. Furthermore, due to the indistinguishable feature of the infection compared with other common pathogens, a large number of cases are likely to go unchecked.

Molecular characterization of non-polio enteroviruses isolated from children with acute flaccid paralysis in IRAN, 2015-2018.

In addition to polioviruses, non-polio enteroviruses (NPEVs) are frequently isolated from patients with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) worldwide. In polio-free countries, there have been expectations that with disappearing wild poliovirus from the community, the rate of AFP would decrease, but the increasing number of AFP cases proved this notion to be wrong. There are speculations that NPEVs might be the cause of increasing AFP rate.