Fulminant echovirus 11 hepatitis in male non-identical twins in northern Italy, April 2023
Antonio Piralla, A. Borghesi, A. Di Comite, Federica Giardina, Guglielmo Ferrari, Simona Zanette, Tiziana Figar, Micol Angelini, Camilla Pisoni, Antonino Maria Guglielmo Pitrolo, Stefania Paolucci, Francesca Rovida, Isabella Pellicioli, Ezio Bonanomi, Fausto Baldanti, Stefano Ghirardello
Abstract
Echovirus 11 (E11) has recently been associated with a series of nine neonatal cases of severe hepatitis in France. Here, we present severe hepatitis caused by E11 in a pair of twins. In one of the neonates, the clinical picture evolved to fulminant hepatitis. The E11 genome showed 99% nucleotide identity with E11 strains reported in the cases in France. Rapid genome characterisation using next generation sequencing is essential to identify new and more pathogenetic variants.