Abstract
Pediatricians are becoming increasingly aware of the emergence of human parechovirus
(HPeV) following several reports of potentially life-threatening infection in early
infancy across the globe from Europe to Australia with episodic seasonal outbreaks.
The severity of the HPeV infection varies widely from sporadic mild respiratory or
gastrointestinal tract infection in older children to epidemic severe sepsis, myocarditis,
and meningoencephalitis in young infants up to 3 months of age. Early complete recovery
may sometimes be falsely reassuring, which later can lead to poor neurodevelopmental
outcomes. The underlying causative viral agent of meningoencephalitis may remain elusive
if a specific laboratory test for HPeV is not requested. Unlike Enterovirus (EV), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis in HPeV infection may remain misleadingly
normal without pleocytosis or abnormal glucose and protein values even in PCR-positive
cases. In this review article we attempt to summarize the important clinical information
relevant to the practicing pediatricians about HPeV, particularly about its most pathogenic
type, HPeV genotype 3 (HPeV3) along with its complications, possible treatment options,
and future research direction.
Keywords
human parechovirus -
Enterovirus
- intravenous immunoglobulin - neutralizing antibody titers - meningoencephalitis
