Enterovirus D68 seroepidemiology in Taiwan, a cross sectional study from 2017

Jian-Te Lee; Wei-Liang Shih; Ting-Yu Yen; Ai-Ling Cheng; Chun-Yi Lu; Luan-Yin Chang; Li-Min Huang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0230180

Enterovirus D68 seroepidemiology in Taiwan, a cross sectional study from 2017

PLoS One. 2020 Mar 10;15(3):e0230180. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230180. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jian-Te Lee¹, Wei-Liang Shih², Ting-Yu Yen³, Ai-Ling Cheng³, Chun-Yi Lu³, Luan-Yin Chang³, Li-Min Huang³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital, Yun-Lin Branch, Yunlin, Taiwan.
² Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University and Infectious Diseases Research and Education Center, Ministry of Health and Welfare and National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background: Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) was discovered in 1962 and has unique characteristics compared to the characteristics of other enteroviruses. There were few documented cases before the epidemic in the United States in 2014. The Taiwan Centers for Diseases Control also confirmed that EV-D68 has been endemic, and some cases of acute flaccid myelitis were reported in Taiwan. To understand the current EV-D68 serostatus, we performed an EV-D68 seroepidemiology study in Taiwan in 2017.

Methods: After informed consent was obtained, we enrolled preschool children, 6- to 15-year-old students and 16- to 49-year-old people. The participants underwent a questionnaire investigation and blood sampling to measure the EV-D68 neutralization antibody.

Results: In total, 920 subjects were enrolled from the northern, central, southern and eastern parts of Taiwan with a male-to-female ratio of 1.03. The EV-D68 seropositive rate was 32% (26/82) in infants, 18% (27/153) in 1-year-old children, 43% (36/83) in 2-year-old children, 60% (94/156) in 3- to 5-year-old children, 89% (108/122) in 6- to 11-year-old primary school students, 98% (118/121) in 12- to 15-year-old high school students, 100% (122/122) in 16- to 49-year-old women and 100% (81/81) in 16- to 49-year-old males in 2017. Among preschool children, EV-D68 seropositivity was related to age (p for trend <0.0001), size of household ≧4 members (p = 0.037) and kindergarten attendance (p = 0.027). The seropositive rate varied among different geographic regions.

Conclusion: EV-D68 infection was prevalent, and its seropositive rates increased with age, larger household size and kindergarten attendance among preschool children.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Antibodies, Neutralizing / blood
Child
Child, Preschool
Cross-Sectional Studies
Disease Outbreaks
Enterovirus D, Human / pathogenicity*
Enterovirus Infections / epidemiology*
Female
Humans
Infant
Male
Middle Aged
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Taiwan / epidemiology

Substances

Antibodies, Neutralizing

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from National Taiwan University Hospital, Yun-Lin Branch (grant number NTUHYL107.X016) to J-TL, from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taiwan (grant number MOHW 106-CDC-C-114-000117) to L-YC and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (grant numbers MOST 108-2321-B-002-016 and 108-3017-F-002-004) to L-YC. This work was also financially supported by the ‘Center of Precision Medicine’ from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (NTU-108L901401) to L-MH. The funders had no role in the conduct of the study or the preparation of the manuscript.