Circulation of enterovirus A71 during 2019‐2020, Marseille, France

Enteroviruses A71 (EVs-A71) are known to cause serious neurological infections, especially in the paediatric population. We report here eight cases of EV-A71 infection diagnosed in Marseille over the past two years (seven cases in 2019 and one case in 2020). Only children under 5 years of age were affected, including one case of acute flaccid paralysis. Viral RNA was detected by RT-PCR in peripheral samples for all cases (faeces and upper respiratory samples). Phylogenetic analyses based on VP1 and 2C3C coding regions revealed that all these cases of EV-A71 infection were caused by viruses belonging to the subgenogroup C1 that currently circulates in Europe and that these viruses are genetically closed to other EVs-A71 recently detected in European countries. These data therefore reinforce the usefulness of enterovirus surveillance network and the need of systematic screening for EV-A71 in case of enteroviral infection. This study therefore suggests that the systematic screening for EV-A71 in case of enteroviral infection could provide additional data for enterovirus surveillance networks. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.