Table 1.

Comparative detection of enterovirus in blood and CSF specimens

	Total enterovirus infections (n)	Positive blood detection	Positive CSF detection	p value	Blood+/CSF−	Blood+/CSF+	Blood–/CSF+	Time between onset of symptoms and venepuncture (h)	Time between onset of symptoms and lumbar puncture (h)	p value
All patients
Total	317	236 (74%)	272 (86%)	0·001	45 (14%)	191 (60%)	81 (26%)	20 (11–36)	18 (9–32)	0·025
Newborn babies	71	70 (99%)	62 (87%)	0·011	9 (13%)	61 (86%)	1 (1%)	12 (6–25)	9 (5–22)	0·984
Infants	83	76 (92%)	62 (75%)	0·008	21 (25%)	55 (66%)	7 (9%)	16 (8–29)	14 (8–25)	0·131
Children	163	90 (55%)	148 (91%)	<0·0001	15 (9%)	75 (46%)	73 (45%)	25 (15–49)*	24 (16–48)*	0·066
Fever without source
Total	55	55 (100%)	41 (75%)	0·0002	14 (25%)	41 (75%)	0	13 (7–27)	12 (7–25)	0·011
Newborn babies	31	31 (100%)	27 (87%)	0·046	4 (13%)	27 (87%)	0	12 (7–23)	10 (5–22)	0·209
Infants	24	24 (100%)	14 (58%)	0·002	10 (42%)	14 (58%)	0	16 (9–33)	15 (10–29)†	0·012
Sepsis-like disease
Total	16	16 (100%)	9 (56%)	0·008	7 (44%)	9 (56%)	0	6 (4–15)	6 (4–9)	0·623
Newborn babies	9	9 (100%)	7 (78%)	0·157	2 (22%)	7 (78%)	0	6 (4–13)	6 (4–7)	0·553
Infants	7	7 (100%)	2 (29%)	0·025	5 (71%)	2 (29%)	0	8 (3–26)	8 (4–9)	0·866
Suspected meningitis
Total	246	165 (67%)	222 (90%)	<0·0001	24 (10%)	141 (57%)	81 (33%)	23 (13–43)	21 (12–41)	0·266
Newborn babies	31	30 (97%)	28 (90%)	0·317	3 (10%)	27 (87%)	1 (3%)	14 (5–36)	9 (6–25)	0·106
Infants	52	45 (87%)	46 (89%)	0·782	6 (12%)	39 (75%)	7 (13%)	20 (8–32)	15 (8–25)	0·774
Children	163	90 (55%)	148 (91%)	<0·0001	15 (9%)	75 (46%)	73 (45%)	25 (15–49)*	24 (16–48)*	0·066

Data are n (%) or median (IQR), unless otherwise indicated. CSF=cerebrospinal fluid. +=enterovirus PCR positive. –=enterovirus PCR negative.

^*Time between onset of symptoms and venepuncture or lumbar puncture was significant between children and infants and between children and newborn babies (p<0·0001).

^†Time between onset of symptoms and lumbar puncture was significant between infants and newborn babies (p=0·045).