ECHO virus - Overview
Alternative Names
Nonpolio enterovirus infection; Echovirus infection
Definition of ECHO virus :
Enteric cytopathic human orphan (ECHO) viruses are a group of viruses that lead to gastrointestinal infection and skin rashes.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors:
Echovirus is one of several families of viruses that affect the gastrointestinal tract collectively called enteroviruses. These infections are common. In the US, they are most common in the summer and fall. You can catch the virus if you come into contact with stools contaminated by the virus, and possibly by breathing in air particles from an infected person.
Serious infections with ECHO viruses are less common, but can be significant. As many as 1 in 5 cases of viral meningitis is caused by an ECHO virus.
- Reviewed last on: 9/15/2010
- David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
References
Modlin JF. Enterovirus infections. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 402.
