A multidisciplinary team composed of researchers from the College of Public Health and Health Professions (Dept of Environmental and Global Health and Dept. of Health Services Research, Management, and Policy), Haiti (Christianville Foundation School Clinic), Italy (Dept. of Infectious Parasitic and Immunomediated Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome), the College of Medicine (Dept. of Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory Science, and Dept. of Medicine), and the Emerging Pathogens Institute, published a report in the May 31 edition of Pediatric Infectious Diseases over the the isolation of enterovirus D68 from the blood of a child with pneumonia in Haiti. Genomic sequencing and phylogenetics revealed that the virus was almost identical to a strain from New York. Enterovirus D68 caused an outbreak in the Western hemisphere in 2014 that was associated with polio-like illnesses. The isolation of this virus from blood has up to now only been reported by two other laboratories in the world. An ahead of-print report can be accessed under:
Isolation of Enterovirus D68 from Blood of a Child with Pneumonia in Rural Haiti with Close Phylogenetic Linkage with New York Strain. Elbadry MA Lednicky J, Cella E, Telisma T, Chavannes S, Loeb J, Ciccozzi M, Okech B, De Rochars VM, Salemi M, Morris JG Jr. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2016 May 31. PMID: 27254038