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Microbiology · Other RNA viruses

Enteroviruses !

  • Virus
  • Non-enveloped (naked)
  • Contact
  • For completeness

A family of gut viruses that includes poliovirus. Most cause mild illness, but they can cause meningitis, myocarditis or paralysis.

Updated 2026-11-01

Also called: poliovirus, coxsackievirus, echovirus, enterovirus D68

At a glance

Shape
Icosahedral
Genome
Single-stranded, positive-sense RNA
Envelope
Non-enveloped (naked)
Family
Picornaviridae, genus Enterovirus
Size
About 30 nm

Morphology

  • Small naked capsid, resistant to stomach acid and bile
  • Poliovirus types 1, 2 and 3; coxsackievirus A and B; echovirus; numbered enteroviruses (A71, D68)

Transmission

  • Faecal-oral, mostly among children
  • Respiratory secretions, blister fluid and contaminated hands
  • Contaminated water
  • To newborns from a mother infected near delivery

Reservoir: Humans

Isolation precautions

What the care team adds to standard precautions.

Contact
Gown and gloves; dedicated equipment. For C. difficile, soap-and-water hand washing.

Virulence factors

  • Replicates in the throat and gut, enters the blood and reaches target organs
  • Poliovirus destroys anterior horn motor neurons and causes asymmetric flaccid paralysis
  • Coxsackievirus B: tropism for myocardium, pericardium and pleura
  • Shed in stool for weeks, even without symptoms

Diseases it causes

Clinical picture

  • Most infections are silent or mildly febrile
  • Polio: one in 200 infections causes irreversible paralysis, mostly of the legs, without sensory loss
  • Coxsackievirus A: herpangina and hand, foot and mouth disease
  • Coxsackievirus B: myocarditis, pericarditis, pleurodynia (Bornholm disease); neonatal sepsis
  • Echovirus and others: seasonal aseptic meningitis; EV-D68: respiratory illness and acute flaccid myelitis

Diagnosis

  • RT-PCR on CSF, stool, throat or blister fluid
  • CSF in aseptic meningitis: lymphocytic pleocytosis with normal glucose
  • Every acute flaccid paralysis under age 15 is notified and stool is tested

Treatment

Supportive care; no antiviral is approved. Paralytic polio needs ventilatory support if the breathing muscles are involved, and rehabilitation. Some severely ill newborns receive immunoglobulin.

Drug class only; doses and regimens are set by the clinician from the current guideline.

Prevention

  • Inactivated (IPV) and oral (OPV) polio vaccine according to the schedule
  • Handwashing, especially after nappy changes
  • Safe water and sanitation
  • No vaccine for non-polio enteroviruses in the Americas

Vaccine: Polio vaccine is in Colombia's PAI; the country uses inactivated vaccine (IPV) in the schedule, and oral vaccine has been used for boosters and campaigns according to Ministry of Health guidance.

Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

Which cells does poliovirus destroy to cause paralysis?

Anterior horn motor neurons of the spinal cord.

Which diseases does coxsackievirus B typically cause?

Myocarditis, pericarditis, pleurodynia and neonatal sepsis.

What does CSF show in enteroviral meningitis?

Lymphocyte-predominant pleocytosis, normal or slightly raised protein and normal glucose.

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← Back to the group: Other RNA viruses

Educational content on microorganisms; not a treatment guide and no substitute for a health professional's advice. No doses are given.

Sources: Poliomyelitis (World Health Organization (WHO), 2025); About Non-Polio Enteroviruses (CDC, 2025); Appendix A: Type and Duration of Precautions Recommended for Selected Infections and Conditions (CDC, 2024).

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Representative model, for educational purposes only.