An outbreak of infantile aseptic meningitis caused by Echo 30

This paper describes an outbreak of infantile aseptic meningitis which occurred in an Apennine village during the summer 1993. It was possible to assess the etiology of the syndrome by means of virological (virus isolation, identification by hemagglutination test and typing by Lim BenyeshMelnick antiserum) and serological (complement fixation, immune-electromicroscopy, neutralisation test) methods. Three viral isolates (one from the pharyngeal and one from the faecal swab of a patient and one from the cerebrospinal fluid sample of a another patient) were obtained which were identified as Echovirus 30. All 9 patients showed an antibody response against ECHO 30.