High frequency of enterovirus D 68 in children hospitalised with respiratory illness in N orway, autumn 2014

ObjectivesAn unexpectedly high proportion of children were admitted for severe respiratory infections at the Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, Norway, during September and October, 2014. In light of the ongoing outbreak of enterovirus‐D68 (EV‐D68) in North America a real‐time RT‐PCR for screening of enterovirus and enterovirus D68 was established.DesignWe developed a duplex real‐time RT‐PCR for rapid screening of enterovirus D68. The method target the 5′ non‐translated region (NTR) of the HEV genome at a location generally used for enterovirus detection.SampleNasopharyngeal samples (n = 354), from children