Characteristics of an environmentally monitored prolonged type 2 vaccine derived poliovirus shedding episode that stopped without intervention.

Vaccine derived poliovirus (VDPV) type 2 strains strongly divergent from the corresponding vaccine strain, Sabin 2, were repeatedly isolated from sewage in Slovakia over a period of 22 months in 2003-2005. Cell cultures of stool specimens from known immune deficient patients and from an identified putative source population of 500 people failed to identify the potential excretor(s) of the virus. The occurrence of VDPV in sewage stopped without any intervention.

Molecular epidemiology and dual serotype specificity detection of echovirus 11 strains in Finland.

Echovirus 11 (E-11) has been one of the most frequently discovered human enterovirus (HEV) in Finland during the past few years. We have studied molecular epidemiological patterns of E-11 from 1993 to 2007 exploiting the 257-nucleotide region in the 5'-part of the VP1 used for genetic typing of HEV. Designated genogroup D strains had a striking prevalence among the Finnish strains, a finding in accordance with the recent data from other geographical regions.

Enterovirus surveillance reveals proposed new serotypes and provides new insight into enterovirus 5'-untranslated region evolution.

Human enteroviruses are currently grouped into five species Human enterovirus A (HEV-A), HEV-B, HEV-C, HEV-D and Poliovirus. During surveillance for enteroviruses serologically non-typable enterovirus strains were found from acute flaccid paralysis patients and healthy individuals. In this study, we report isolates of recently described enterovirus types EV76 and EV90 of HEV-A species and characterize two new enterovirus type candidates, EV96 and EV97, to species HEV-C and HEV-B, respectively.