After Chandipura, enter Enterovirus

2 children diagnosed with Enterovirus infection in Sabarkantha; total 22 children confirmed infected with CHPV across state

- Brendan.Dabhi

While the death toll of children from the Acute Viral Encephalitis Syndrome (AVES) outbreak in Gujarat has reached 36 in just 25 days, two patients have now been confirmed to have Enterovirus infection.

This comes alongside the 22 children already diagnosed with the Chandipura Vesiculovirus (CHPV). The first patient was admitted to GMERS Himmatnagar MCH in Sabarkantha on June 27, with recorded cases having reached 93.

The Gujarat government over the weekend mandated all hospitals in the state to send samples of patients with AVES-like symptoms to the state-run Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) instead of the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune.

Interestingly, some of the final results from samples previously sent to NIV revealed that two children admitted to GMERS Himmatnagar MCH had Enterovirus infections.