Background: Clinical features of coxsackievirus A4 (CA4), B3 (CB3) and B4 (CB4) infections in children have not been comprehensively described.
Methods/principal findings: From January 2004 to June 2012, a total of 386 children with culture-proven CA4, CB3 and CB4 infections treated at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, including 296 inpatients (CA4, 103; CB3, 131; CB4, 62) and 90 outpatients (CA4, 55; CB3, 14; CB4, 21), were included. From outpatients, only demographics were extracted and from inpatients, detailed clinical and laboratory data were collected retrospectively. The mean age was 32.1 ± 30.2 months; male to female ratio was 1.3 ∶ 1. Children with CB3 infection were youngest (76.6% <3 years of age), and had a highest hospitalization rate (90.3%) and a longest duration of hospitalization (mean ± SD, 7.5 ± 6.2 days). Herpangina (74.8%) was the most common presentation for children with CA4 infection, aseptic meningitis (26.7%) and young infant with fever (23.7%) for those with CB3 infection, and herpangina (32.3%) and tonsillitis/pharyngitis (27.4%) for children with CB4 infection. Almost all the inpatients had fever (97.6%). Twelve out of thirteen (92.3%) children with complications and ten of 11 children with long-term sequelae had CB3 infections. Two fatal cases were noted, one due to myocarditis with CA4 infection and CB3 were detected from the other case which had hepatic necrosis with coagulopathy. The remaining 285 children (96.3%) recovered uneventfully.
Conclusion: CA4, CB3 and CB4 infections in children had different clinical disease spectrums and involved different age groups. Though rare, severe diseases may occur, particularly caused by CB3.