Enterovirus Etiology of the 1970 Singapore Epidemic of Acute Conjunctivitis

Abstract

The EH 24/70 virus, now identified as an antigenic variant of coxsackievirus type A24 in tube neutralization and immunodiffusion tests, was found to be the etiological agent of the 1970 outbreak of acute conjunctivitis in Singapore. The following year, strains identical to EH 24/70 virus were isolated in Hong Kong from a number of patients with acute conjunctivitis. Thus EH 24/70 virus seems to be the first human enterovirus incriminated in a large outbreak with acute conjunctivitis as the dominant clinical feature. Serologic responses substantiated the causative role of EH 24/70 virus in human disease. Human conjunctiva was not the sole habitat of the EH 24/70 virus, as it was also readily isolated from throat washings of patients in the acute phase of illness.