Enterovirus infections in children

International cooperation and widespread use of trivalent oral poliovaccine has almost eliminated paralytic poliomyelitis from developed countries and is now dramatically decreasing the disease in developing countries. The remarkable results are based on the strategies recommended by the World Health Organization, which include national mass campaigns for administering oral polio vaccine to all children younger than 5 years of age, enhanced surveillance to find patients with acute flaccid paralysis, creating a network of laboratories for vital diagnosis, and targeted immunization to populations in endemic areas. Another remarkable advance in clinical and research fields of enterovirus infections is the development of molecular genetic technologies such as polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization assays. A cloned enterovirus complementary DNA prepared from the highly conserved 5' region of the enterovirus genome can be used for rapid and sensitive group-specific diagnosis of enterovirus infections. This complementary DNA is currently being used to study the molecular mechanisms in the pathogenesis of enteroviral heart disease; lesions in acute and chronic myocarditis and even in end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy may be associated with replication of enteroviruses.