Markey, Peter

Davis, Josh

Harnett, Gerry

Williams, Simon

Speers, David

2010-01

This article can be freely accessed at the URI http://origin.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/1/63.htm

In July 2007, a cluster of meningitis cases caused by an echovirus 4 strain was detected in 1 indigenous community in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. Illness was characterized by fever, vomiting, and headache. Over the next 4 months, additional cases of meningitis and the fever and vomiting syndrome emerged in other indigenous communities and subsequently in the major urban center of Darwin. We describe the epidemiology of 95 laboratory-confirmed meningitis cases and conclude that the epidemic fever and vomiting syndrome was caused by the same enterovirus. Nucleotide sequencing of the whole genome verified this enterovirus (AUS250G) as a strain of echovirus type 4. Viral protein 1 nucleotide sequencing demonstrated 96% homology with an echovirus 4 strain responsible for a large outbreak of meningitis in the Yanbian Prefecture of China in 1996.

Markey PG, Davis JS, Harnett GB, Williams SH, Speers DJ. Meningitis and a febrile vomiting illness caused by Echovirus type 4, Northern Territory, Australia. Emerg Infect Dis 2010 Jan;16(1):63-68

1080-6059

https://hdl.handle.net/10137/434

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

Meningitis

Enterovirus infections

Viruses

Statistical data interpretation

Molecular biology

Epidemiology

Aboriginal people

Meningitis and a febrile vomiting illness caused by Echovirus type 4, Northern Territory, Australia

Journal Article

Publication