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

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]