Clinical and Genomic Epidemiology of Coxsackievirus A21 and Enterovirus D68 in Homeless Shelters, King County, Washington, USA, 2019–2021

Abstract

Congregate homeless shelters are disproportionately affected by infectious disease outbreaks. We describe enterovirus epidemiology across 23 adult and family shelters in King County, Washington, USA, during October 2019–May 2021, by using repeated cross-sectional respiratory illness and environmental surveillance and viral genome sequencing. Among 3,281 participants >3 months of age, we identified coxsackievirus A21 (CVA21) in 39 adult residents (3.0% [95% CI 1.9%–4.8%] detection) across 7 shelters during October 2019–February 2020. We identified enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) in 5 adult residents in 2 shelters during October–November 2019. Of 812 environmental samples, 1 was EV-D68–positive and 5 were CVA21–positive. Other enteroviruses detected among residents, but not in environmental samples, included coxsackievirus A6/A4 in 3 children. No enteroviruses were detected during April 2020–May 2021. Phylogenetically clustered CVA21 and EV-D68 cases occurred in some shelters. Some shelters also hosted multiple CVA21 lineages.

Keywords

• enterovirus
• coxsackievirus
• viruses
• enterovirus C
• human
• enterovirus D