Detection of enterovirus by polymerase chain reaction and culture in cerebrospinal fluid of children with transient neurologic complications associated with acute febrile illness.

Cerebrospinal fluid samples collected from 23 children with neurologic symptoms, such as febrile seizures, status epilepticus, and transient altered states of consciousness, associated with acute febrile illness, were examined for infectious virus by cell culture. Enteroviruses (echovirus type 9 and coxsackievirus B3) were isolated from 2 of the cerebrospinal fluid samples. The samples were also examined for enterovirus by use of the polymerase chain reaction, which could detect nearly the whole human enterovirus group: Enteroviral RNA was detected in 9 of the 23 samples. The findings suggest that transient neurologic complications during the febrile phase of acute febrile illness are caused, in part, by enteroviral infection of the central nervous system.