EV‐D68 infection in children with asthma exacerbation and pneumonia in Mexico City during 2014 autumn

BACKGROUND: Human enterovirus D68 (EV‐D68) recently caused an increase in mild‐to‐severe pediatric respiratory cases in North America and some European countries. Even though few of these children presented with acute paralytic disease, direct causal relationship cannot yet be assumed. OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this report were to describe the clinical findings of an outbreak of EV‐D68 infection in Mexico City and identify the genetic relationship with previously reported strains. PATIENTS/METHODS: Between September and December 2014, 126 nasopharyngeal samples (NPS) of hospitalized children <15 years of age with ARI were tested for the presence of respiratory viruses using a multiplex RT‐qPCR and EV‐D68‐specific RT‐qPCR. Clinical, epidemiological, and demographic data were collected and associated with symptomatology and viral infections. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using VP1 region. RESULTS: Enterovirus/rhinovirus infection was detected in 40 patients (31·7%), of which 24 patients were EV‐D68‐positive. EV‐D68 infection prevailed over September and October 2014 and was associated with neutrophilia and lymphopenia, and patients were more likely to develop hypoxemia. Phylogenetic analyses showed that Mexican EV‐D68 belongs to the new B1 clade. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first EV‐D68 outbreak described in Mexico and occurred few weeks after the United States reported similar infections. Although EV‐D68 belongs to new B1 clade, no neurological affection was observed.