Enteroviral central nervous system infections in children of the region of monastir, Tunisia: diagnosis, laboratory findings of cerebrospinal fluid and clinical manifestations.

Human enteroviruses (HEV) are one of the major causes of central nervous system (CNS) infections in pediatrics. A prospective study was conducted to assess the epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of enterovirus (EV) infections of the CNS in children under 15-years-old, suspected of having viral CNS infections and admitted to the Pediatric Department of Monastir University Hospital, Tunisia. Enteroviral RNA was detected by 5' NCR nested RT-PCR assay in 33 % (20 out of 60) of cerebrospinal fluid specimens, whereas only six samples (10 %) were EV positive in cell culture.

Prolonged viral RNA detection in the central nervous system of one-week-old Swiss albino mice following coxsackievirus B4 and echovirus 9 infection.

Objectives: Type B coxsackieviruses (CV-B), together with echoviruses (E), are among the most common pathogens encountered in aseptic meningitis and meningoencephalitis. They frequently infect the central nervous system (CNS). The mechanisms of virus spreading in the CNS are poorly understood.

Role of GNRA motif mutations within stem-loop V of internal ribosome entry segment in coxsackievirus B3 molecular attenuation.

The lengthy 5' nontranslated region of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) forms a highly ordered secondary structure containing an internal ribosome entry segment (IRES), which plays an important role in controlling viral translation and pathogenesis. The stem-loop V (SL-V) of this IRES contains a large lateral bulge loop which encompasses two conserved GNRA motifs. In this study, we analyzed the effects of point mutations within the GNRA motifs of the CVB3 IRES.

Nucleotide sequences of IRES domains IV and V of natural ECHO virus type 11 isolates with different replicative capacity phenotypes.

ECHO viruses (ECV) belong to the enterovirus genus of the Picornaviridae family and are the most frequently isolated from clinical and environmental samples. They are responsible for a wide variety of clinical syndromes involving most organs of the human body. We previously postulated that some of the variations in the recognition of ECHO virus type 11 (ECV 11) strains by a group specific monoclonal antibody (Mab) which we have studied could be explained by variations in their replicative capacity in cell culture and variations within the 5' nontranslated region (5' NTR) of their genomes.

Epidemiological study of non-polio enterovirus neurological infections in children in the region of Monastir, Tunisia.

The epidemiological, virological, and clinical syndromes of 86 children younger than 13 years suspected of having neurological diseases and admitted to Fattouma Bourguiba Hospital of Monastir from January 2002 to November 2003 were analyzed. The presence of enterovirus was studied in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and by isolation on cell culture. Sixty-one (71%) specimens were positive by RT-PCR, whereas 45 (52.