ptic meningits, and acute inflammation of the meninges, is a common illness during childhood. Virus is the most important cause of aseptic meningitis. Especially enterovirus causes approximately above 85% of all cases of aseptic meningitis. In
1993,
there was a big epidemic of aseptic meningitis by ECHO 9and ECHO 30 viruses. And ECHO 3 virus was isolated as a causative agent of aseptic meningitis in 1994. This study was aimed to detect the causative agent of aseptic meningitis in 1995 and to
analyze the 5'-noncoding region which was used to detect virus. Virus was isolated from 87 stools and cerebrospinal fluid specimens of the patients by cultured RD and HEp-2 cell. Neutralizing antibody tests using enterovirus serum pool were
performed on
the specimens with cytopathic effect. 3 of ECHO 7 viruses and 5 of Coxsackie B3 viruses were isolated from stool specimens and 1 of ECHO 7 and Coxsackie B3 mixed type was confirmed from ccrebrospinal fluid specimens. RNA was isolated from the
culture
supernatants of infected cells and general primers were selected in highly conserved part of the 5'-noncoding region of the enteroviral genome for RT-PCR. PCR product from this virus showed a 152bp band on gel electrophoresis. Sequence of
obtained
DNA
was compared with prototype sequences by accessing to
the Genebank database. 5*-noncoding region of isolated Coxsackie B3 virus, which has point mutations in nucleotide sequence positions 493, 497, 502, 523, was closely related to that of polio virus type 1, Mahoney strain. In case of isolated ECHO
7
virus, nucleotide has been changed from cytosine to thymine at position 581 and from thymine to cytosine at position 583. We concluded the causative agents of the outbreak of aseptic meningitis during June to July in 1995 were both ECHO 7 and
Coxsackie
B3 virus, and the primer used in this study could allow a rapid diagnosis of enteroviruses by PCR.
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