All are inhabitants of the human alimentary tract. As a group they are associated with a variety of clinical syndromes, from slightly increased temperature or mild respiratory illness to severe CNS disease with paralysis. One serotype may cause several symptoms and a single symptom may be caused by several different viruses. There is a common misconception that enteroviruses cause gastroenteritis. In fact this is rarely the case.
Children play an important role in transmission.
Enteroviruses are spread mainly by the faecal - oral route. Many of these outbreaks are associated with aseptic meningitis involving one or more strains. A total of 35 enteroviruses have been isolated for 1994. They included eight isolates of echovirus type 9, one echovirus type 7, one coxsackie B5, one coxsackie B4 and five were untypeable. Seven cases involved children less than 7 years old, of which 6 were under 6 months old.