Enterovirus Migration Patterns between France and Tunisia

The enterovirus (EV) types echovirus (E-) 5, E-9, and E-18, and coxsackievirus (CV-) A9 are infrequently reported in human diseases and their epidemiologic features are poorly defined. Virus transmission patterns between countries have been estimated with phylogenetic data derived from the 1D/VP1 and 3CD gene sequences of a sample of 74 strains obtained in France (2000–2012) and Tunisia (2011–2013) and from the publicly available sequences. The EV types (E-5, E-9, and E-18) exhibited a lower worldwide genetic diversity (respective number of genogroups: 4, 5, and 3) in comparison to CV-A9 (n = 10). The phylogenetic trees estimated with both 1D/VP1 and 3CD sequence data showed variations in the number of co-circulating lineages over the last 20 years among the four EV types. Despite the low number of genogroups in E-18, the virus exhibited the highest number of recombinant 3CD lineages (n = 10) versus 4 (E-5) to 8 (E-9). The phylogenies provided evidence of multiple transportation events between France and Tunisia involving E-5, E-9, E-18, and CV-A9 strains. Virus spread events between France and 17 other countries in five continents had high probabilities of occurrence as those between Tunisia and two European countries other than France. All transportation events were supported by BF values > 10. Inferring the source of virus transmission from phylogenetic data may provide insights into the patterns of sporadic and epidemic diseases caused by EVs.