Enterovirus type 71 infection in Melbourne.

Between November 1972 and May 1973, 60 strains of a new enterovirus were isolated from 49 patients investigated at Fairfield Hospital for Communicable Diseases, Melbourne. Of these patients 39 were admitted to hospital with aseptic meningitis (which was accompanied by a rash in 6), 5 others had rash alone, 4 had acute respiratory tract infections, and 1 had infective polyneuritis. A representative strain from this outbreak had the physicochemical properties of an enterovirus but could not be identified with antisera prepared against the prototype polio, coxsackie, and echo viruses. Studies, performed in association with the WHO Collaborating Centre for Virus Reference and Research, Houston, TX, USA, showed the outbreak to be due to enterovirus 71. Most of the epidemic strains required sodium deoxycholate treatment before neutralization could be demonstrated.