increase in number of severe cases among newborns. WHO notice – breaking latest news

World Health Organization (WHO) reporting on a type of enterovirus, l’Echovirus-11associated in France with the increase in serious cases that concerned babies.

Unusual increase in cases

On May 5, France reported the tally of 9 almost in 4 hospitals in 3 regions with the death of 7 newborns (from July 2022 to April 2023). The current increase in the incidence and severity of infection in newborns associated with a recombinant lineage of E-11 (which had not previously been detected in France) is considered unusual – explains WHO – due to the extremely rapid deterioration and associated mortality rate among affected children. However, WHO assesses the public health risk to the general population as low, despite the worrying nature of the reported increase in cases.

The viruses of gastroenteritis but not only

Enteroviruses are a very heterogeneous group of small viruses: often known for gastroenteritis (they are frequently isolated in the faeces) they also include Polioviruses (cause of poliomyelitis), Coxsackie viruses (cause of pleurodynia, forms of aseptic meningitis, myocarditis), ECHO viruses (cause of diarrhea and forms of aseptic meningitis). They are a type of virus that is much more common in summer and early autumn when the weather is warmer and more humid.

Altro enterovirus in UK

Another report recently involved an enterovirus and came from Great Britain with an increase in cases of
myocarditis among newborns caused by enterovirus del sottotipo coxsackievirus. The cases were reported last April since National YOUR Focal Point British, a national center in charge of communications with the WHO. Between June 2022 and March 2023, a total of 15 newborns and infants aged up to 28 days had neonatal sepsis (septicaemia) in two parts of the UK: South Wales (10 cases) and South West England (five cases). Eight cases were treated in intensive care and one child died before transfer to intensive care.