[Epidemiological and virological study of aseptic meningitis in children caused by echovirus type 30 in Fukushima in 2004].

An outbreak of aseptic meningitis caused by echovirus type 30 (E-30) occurred in the southern area of Fukushima Prefecture from March to September in 2004. The data of 54 patients with E-30 meningitis were analyzed. The median age was 7.3 years and the age range was 4 to 14 years. The male to female ratio was 2.2:1. The major symptoms of fever, headache and nausea/vomiting were observed more than 80% of the patients. The mean cerebrospinal fluid cell count was 104/microL, and polymorphonuclear cells were predominant in 61% of the cases. The clinical characteristics were not remarkably different from those in the outbreak in the middle to southern region of Fukushima Prefecture in 1997. The phylogenetic analysis based on the VP4 structural gene showed that the E-30 strains isolated in 2004 formed different clusters from those isolated during other time periods, suggesting that a variant genotype of E-30 was responsible for the outbreak in Fukushima in 2004.