Human parechovirus 3 (HPeV-3) was identified as the cause of neonatal sepsis characterized by high fever, erythematous rash, and tachypnea in three Canadian infants.
Case Report (n=3)
This report identifies HPeV-3 as a cause of neonatal sepsis in Canadian infants, expanding the known geographic and clinical scope of the virus.
A third serotype of human parechovirus (HPeV) has been recently isolated from stool specimens of a young Japanese child with transient paralysis. We report 3 additional cases of neonatal sepsis caused by HPeV-3 in the fall of 2001 in Canadian infants 7-27 days old. All children were hospitalized with high fever, erythematous rash, and tachypnea for a median of 5 days. The viruses isolated from nasopharyngeal aspirates grew slowly on tertiary monkey kidney cells and were successfully passaged on Vero cells. The predicted amino acid identity of the VP0-VP3-VP1 region of the three viruses was 74.6%-74.8%, 73.4%-73.6%, and 97.0%-97.1% when compared to HPeV-1, -2, and -3 prototype strains, respectively. Although different, our isolates were closely related; amino acid identity was 99.6%-100% for the last 3 proteins.
Boivin et al. (Sat,) conducted a case report in Neonatal sepsis (n=3). Human parechovirus 3 (HPeV-3) infection was evaluated. Human parechovirus 3 (HPeV-3) was identified as the cause of neonatal sepsis characterized by high fever, erythematous rash, and tachypnea in three Canadian infants.