Echovirus 18 meningitis in southern Taiwan

Eighty cases of echovirus 18 infection among young children during an outbreak in 2006 in Taiwan were enrolled. Twenty percent of the patients had a comorbid condition. Twenty-five cases (31%) were complicated by aseptic meningitis. The most frequent diagnoses in children without meningitis were pharyngitis/tonsillitis (35%) and vesicular viral exanthem (33%). The case-fatality rate among the children with meningitis was 4%. Echovirus 18 was isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid of 68% of the children.