Human Parechovirus Infection, Denmark

Thea K Fischer,Sofie Midgley,Camilla Dalgaard,Alex Y Nielsen

doi:10.3201/eid2001.130569

Abstract

Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) often cause severe illness among young children. National surveillance with routine testing of all cerebrospinal fluid, fecal, and tissue samples was conducted during January 2009-December 2012 in all counties in Denmark (6,817 samples from 4,804 children were screened for HPeV). We detected HPeV RNA in 202 (3.0%) specimens from 149 persons. Young infants were at highest risk for HPeV, and 9 (6%) of the HPeV-infected children died, probably of their HPeV illness. HPeV3 was the most common genotype identified, and 5 closely related clades of HPeV3 circulated in Denmark throughout the study period. Our study adds perspective on the prevalence and clinical and molecular virologic characteristics of HPeV infection.

Highlights

Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) often cause severe illness among young children
Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) have recently been recognized to cause a variety of symptoms ranging from mild diarrhea to sepsis and meningitis, among young children
Whereas HPeV3 has been reported to be associated with sepsis-like syndrome, meningitis, encephalitis, and hepatitis in neonates and young infants [2], most HPeV infections are asymptomatic or associated with mild respiratory and/or

Summary

Introduction

Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) often cause severe illness among young children. National surveillance with routine testing of all cerebrospinal fluid, fecal, and tissue samples was conducted during January 2009–December 2012 in all counties in Denmark (6,817 samples from 4,804 children were screened for HPeV). Whereas HPeV3 has been reported to be associated with sepsis-like syndrome, meningitis, encephalitis, and hepatitis in neonates and young infants [2], most HPeV infections are asymptomatic or associated with mild respiratory and/or Samples were collected from patients with symptoms compatible with EV infection, meningitis, sepsis-like illness, respiratory symptoms, and/or diarrhea.

Results

Conclusion