HPeV-3 predominated among Parechovirus A positive infants during an outbreak in 2013-2014 in Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Background: Parechoviruses (HPeV) are endemic seasonal pathogens detected from the respiratory tract, gut, blood and central nervous system (CNS) of children and adults, sometimes in conjunction with a range of acute illnesses. HPeV CNS infection may lead to neurodevelopmental sequelae, especially following infection by HPeV-3, hence screening and genotyping are important to inform epidemiology, aetiology and prognosis.

Objectives: To identify and characterise HPeVs circulating during an outbreak between November 2013 and April 2014 in Queensland, Australia.

Study design: To perform PCR-based screening and comparative nucleotide sequence analysis on samples from children with clinically suspected infections submitted to a research laboratory for HPeV investigations.

Results: HPeVs were detected among 25/62 samples, identified as HPeV-3 from 23 that could be genotyped. These variants closely matched those which have occurred worldwide and in other States of Australia.

Conclusions: The inclusion of PCR-based HPeV testing is not systematically applied but should be considered essential for children under 3 months of age with CNS symptoms as should long-term follow-up of severe sepsis-like cases.

Keywords: Australia; Central nervous system; Genotyping; Human parechovirus; Infants; Sepsis.