Key points
- Non-polio enteroviruses can vary in people and symptoms.
- Most people do not get sick, or they only have mild symptoms similar to the common cold.
- Infants and people with weakened immune systems have a greater chance of having complications.
Symptoms
Infants, children, and teenagers are more likely than adults to get infected and become sick because they have not yet developed the immunity (protection) from previous exposures to the viruses. Adults can also become infected but are less likely to have symptoms, or symptoms may be milder.
Symptoms of mild illness may include:
- Fever
- Runny nose, sneezing, cough
- Skin rash
- Mouth blisters
- Body and muscle aches
Complications
Who is at risk
Infants and people with weakened immune systems have a greater chance of having these complications.
Some non-polio enterovirus infections can cause:
- Viral conjunctivitis
- Hand, foot, and mouth disease
- Viral meningitis (infection of the covering of the spinal cord and/or brain)
- Viral encephalitis (infection of the brain)
- Myocarditis (infection of the heart)
- Pericarditis (infection of the sac around the heart)
- Acute flaccid paralysis (a sudden onset of weakness in one or more arms or legs)
- Inflammatory muscle disease (slow, progressive muscle weakness)
Other conditions
- People who develop myocarditis may have heart failure and require long-term care.
- Some people who develop encephalitis or paralysis may not fully recover.
- Although very rare, newborns infected with a non-polio enterovirus may develop sepsis.
- Sepsis is the body's overwhelming response to infection, which can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death.
- Non-polio enterovirus infections may play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes in children.