Report of an outbreak of enterovirus disease in a neonatal intensive care unit and a systematic review of the literature

TL;DR

This paper reports a contained enterovirus outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit and reviews similar outbreaks to highlight the importance of surveillance and infection control.

Contribution

The paper presents a real-world outbreak case and a systematic literature review on NICU enterovirus outbreaks.

Findings

The outbreak was rapidly identified and contained with minimal cases.

Temporary closure of the NICU was required to prevent further spread.

Published outcomes of outbreaks were compared to the authors' findings.

Abstract

Neonatal enterovirus infections have the potential to cause devastating illness and death in this vulnerable age group. Existing evidence suggests that the incidence of enteroviral infections in the post-natal period may be higher than previously thought. Because neonates infected with enterovirus are at risk of severe sequelae, and healthcare-associated outbreaks in neonatal settings can occur, enteroviral infection in hospitalized neonates is a serious concern. Thus, it is essential to conduct surveillance for these infections and to deploy robust infection control measures once the virus has been detected in a neonatal care setting. Here, we report an outbreak of enterovirus in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that was rapidly identified and contained, resulting in relatively few cases but requiring temporary closure of the unit. Additionally, we present our review of the literature describing the characteristics of enteroviral outbreaks in NICU and nursery settings to compare published outcomes of outbreaks to those of our outcome.

Figures