Prevalence of human parechovirus in Chinese children hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis

Abstract

Human parechoviruses (HPeVs) are widespread pathogens causing a wide spectrum of diseases. HPeVs belong to the family Picornaviridae, and 14 genotypes are known. We conducted a case-control study to investigate the role of HPeV in acute gastroenteritis. HPeV was detected and quantified using real-time RT-PCR, and then genotyped by sequencing of the nested RT-PCR product of the VP3/VP1 partial gene. HPeV was found in both the case and control groups (29.4% and 15.3% respectively, p 0.006). Six HPeV genotypes (HPeV1, HPeV3, HPeV4, HPeV5, HPeV6, and HPeV8) were detected. Nine positive samples could not be sequenced with negative genotyped RT-PCR. HPeV1 and HPeV3 were the most prevalent genotypes, and co-infection was common in the case group. No statistically significant differences in either viral load or the rate of HPeV1 and HPeV3 infection were found between the two groups. Additionally, no significant differences were found in fever rates, vomiting rates or mean duration and frequency of diarrhoea and vomiting between the positive and negative case groups with HPeV1 or HPeV3. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that there was no association between the HPeV1 or HPeV3 infection and acute gastroenteritis. Multiple genotypes of HPeVs were highly prevalent in Chinese children. One potential new HPeV genotype was identified, but needs to be confirmed further by the picoma study group. However, the present study does not support a causative role of HPeV1 and HPeV3 in acute gastroenteritis.

Metagenomic Analysis of Viruses in Feces from Unsolved Outbreaks of Gastroenteritis in Humans

“…It is capable of causing more severe disease, such as neonatal sepsis, encephalitis, sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI), and paralysis (33)(34)(35), likely due in part to central nervous system involvement. Cases of HPeV3 infection may present with gastrointestinal and respiratory symptoms, but this virus has also been detected in healthy individuals (36,37). The relevance of HPeV3 to the specific gastroenteritis outbreak in this study cannot be determined, especially given that no samples from linked cases were available.…”

Prevalence and genotypes of human parechovirus in stool samples from hospitalized children in Shanghai, China, 2008 and 2009

“…HPeV2 infections are rare and are mostly associated with gastrointestinal symptoms [Ehrnst and Eriksson, 1996]. HPeV3 was identified in Japan from a 1-year-old child with transient paralysis, fever, and diarrhea in 1999 [Ito et al, 2004], and the prevalence may now be either equal to HPeV1 or a close second [Joki-Korpela and Hyypiä , 2001;Legay et al, 2002;Abed and Boivin, 2006;Zhang et al, 2009;Benschop et al, 2010]. HPeV3 infection causes more severe diseases, such as sepsis or sepsis-like illness and meningitis or encephalitis in relatively young children [Ito et al, 2004;Boivin et al, 2005;Abed and Boivin, 2006;Benschop et al, 2006a;Watanabe et al, 2007;de Vries et al, 2008;Wolthers et al, 2008;Lev-orson et al, 2009;Selvarangan et al, 2011].…”

“…HPeV1 is a widely dispersed pathogen that mainly affects young children [Joki-Korpela and Hyypiä , 2001; Legay et al, 2002;Abed and Boivin, 2006;Zhang et al, 2009;Benschop et al, 2010;Ito et al, 2010;Pham et al, 2010aPham et al, , 2011a. HPeV2 infections are rare and are mostly associated with gastrointestinal symptoms [Ehrnst and Eriksson, 1996].…”

Detection and molecular characterisation of adenovirus in children under 5 years old with diarrhoea

“…In developing countries, enteric viruses such as rotaviruses, noroviruses, human enteric adenoviruses (HAdV), human astrovirus, and sapoviruses are the major cause of childhood diarrhoea (2,3). Bocavirus, aichivirus, and human parechovirus have recently been described in patients with diarrhoea, but their association with acute gastroenteritis has not been established yet (4,5).…”