Abstract
We report an unusually high number of cases (n = 26) of parechovirus infections in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of neonates and infants admitted with sepsis in the United Kingdom during 8 May to 2 August 2016. Although such infections in neonates and infants are well-documented, parechovirus has not been routinely included in many in-house and commercial PCR assays for CSF testing. Clinicians should consider routine parechovirus testing in young children presenting with sepsis.
Highlights
Parechovirus is a non-enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus within the family Picornaviridae, which includes rhinoviruses and enteroviruses
Other recent reports of HPeV activity include an outbreak of HPeV infection in 55 neonates and infants in Queensland, Australia, between September 2015 and February 2016 [17]. The presentation of these cases was very similar to that described for the 26 UK cases reported here
A recently published Norwegian study found HPeV in 9% (30/343) respiratory samples taken from 161 preschool children and toddlers, during
Summary
Parechovirus is a non-enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus within the family Picornaviridae, which includes rhinoviruses and enteroviruses. Infections with HPeV in neonates and infants have been well-documented [5,6,7,8,9,10], but HPeV has only relatively recently been included as a target in our in-house and some commercial PCR assays used for testing CSF. This is most likely due to the growing recognition of HPeV as a common potential cause of sepsis and febrile seizures from various studies and outbreak investigations in recent years [11,12,13,14,15,16]
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