Relative Frequency of Enteroviruses in Children With Aseptic Meningitis Referred to Aboozar Hospital in Ahvaz

Background: human enteroviruses are members of the picornaviridae family, they are nonenveloped,with icosahedral symmetry, positive rna viruses and causes aseptic meningitis in both infants and adults. objectives: the aim of this study was to determine the relative frequency of enteroviral meningitis among children referred to ahvaz aboozar hospital. patients and methods: 57 cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected from patients with aseptic meningitis and white blood cell (wbc) count of more than 5x106/mm3, enterovirus rna was extracted with roch extraction kit and enteroviral infection was detected by revers transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) test. results: enteroviral infection was detected in 34 cases out of 57 patient (59.6 %), 19 patients were younger than 1 year old (55.8 %), 8 cases were between 1 and 2 years (23.5 %) and 7 cases were older than 2 years (20.5 %). the relationship between gender and prevalence was not significant. most cases were found in winter . conclusions: it was shown that human enterovirus is the major cause of aseptic men- ingitis in ahvaz, south west of iran. the prevalence of enterovirus infection was consid- erably high in this region. to decrease prevalence of enteroviral infection, improved knowledge and personal hygiene is advised.