Abstract

Non-poliovirus enteroviruses (NPEV) are infectious agents which can determine various illness in human such as hand-foot-mouth syndrome, angina, respiratory diseases, acute or chronic heart disease, diarrhea, pancreatitis, acute hemorrhagic and conjunctivitis. These viruses are eliminated in the stool and thus contaminate the marine environment and shellfish. In Morocco, shellfish sanitary quality analysis does not include enteroviruses detection. Therefore, the objective of this study was to detect and to type enteroviruses in 288 mussel samples. These samples (Mytilus galloprovincialis) were collected between February 2014 and February 2015 from three wild populations (Bouregreg estuary, Yacoub Al Mansour, and Harhoura coast). 216 of 288 samples (75%) were revealed positive by the cell culture method, with 204 strains of NPEV (70.8%) and 12 strains of Poliovirus Type 1 (4.2%). The serotype of 204 NPEV strains has been determined a typable strains (64.7%) and non-typable strains (35.3%) in the marine environment. However, the proportion of untypable strains confirms the presence of new serotypes. The diseases caused by NPEV constitute an important public health problem. To fight against this human risk related to viral contamination, it is necessary to have a methodology for the control and virological monitoring of the marine ecosystem.

Key words: Non-poliovirus enteroviruses, Mytilus galloprovincialis, marine environment, shellfish, seroneutralization.