ABSTRACT
This chapter provides state-of-the-art overviews on foodborne diseases caused by enterovirus in relation to their etiology, biology, epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The genus Enterovirus encompasses a diverse group of small positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses that are associated with several human and mammalian diseases, including epidemic pleurodynia, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, herpangina, poliomyelitis, encephalitis, myocarditis, acute heart failure, and sepsis. Historically, human-infecting enteroviruses have been classified in accordance with their specific clinical manifestations in human infections as well as on their pathogenicity in intracranially and subcutaneously inoculated experimental suckling mice. Enterovirus represents a new addition to the Picornaviridae family. The status of enterovirus classification is far from constant, and new enterovirus genotypes are expected to emerge in the future. Transmission of Enterovirus is usually through direct contact with respiratory secretions or stool, sometimes via contaminated environmental sources, and also by mother to newborn during delivery.
