Complete nucleotide sequence analysis of the VP1 genomic region of Echoviruses 6 isolated from sewage in Greece revealed 98% similarity with Echoviruses 6 that were characterized from an aseptic meningitis outbreak 1 year later.

The molecular characterization of two enterovirus strains (LR51A5 and LR61G3) isolated from the sewage treatment plant unit in Larissa, Greece, in May and June 2006 and the investigation of their relationship with enteroviruses of the same serotype isolated in Greece in 2001 and 2007 were performed by complete VP1 sequence analysis of the isolates. The close phylogenetic relationship and the high nucleotide similarity (98%) led to the conclusion that the virus isolated from sewage in 2006 was associated with that isolated from an aseptic meningitis outbreak 1 year later. Bootscan analysis of the VP1 genomic region revealed that intraserotypic multi-recombination events might have been involved in the evolutionary past history of the LR51A5 and LR61G3 isolates.