Human Parechovirus Infections: A Cause of Meningoencephalitis in Young Infants and Children

Human parechoviruses (hPeV) are a newly recognized genus in the Picornaviridae family of viruses, reclassified from the enterovirus (EV) genus. Of the 16 hPeV types, the most clinically relevant are types 1 through 6. Similar to EVs, hPeV cause a range of clinical illnesses. Younger children and infants are most often affected, and infection can result in a sepsis-like syndrome, meningoencephalitis, or both. To characterize hPeV infections, researchers examined cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples collected to rule out infection in 440 children from a hospital in Southern California during 4.5 years.

CSF samples were tested for hPeV 1 through 6 by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and for EV by a commercially available PCR. Twelve sampl…