Human Parechovirus Infection in Children in Taiwan: a Retrospective, Single-Hospital Study

To understand human parechovirus (HPeV) infections in Taiwanese children, we analyzed data for 112 children (age <= 10 years) with HPeV infection diagnosed between July 2007 and June 2016 in a medical center in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. The patients were infected with HPeV1 (n = 94), HPeV3 (n = 3), HPeV4 (n = 3), HPeV6 (n = 1) and non-typeable HPeV (n = 11). We compared the clinical implications for children younger than 3 months (n = 56) and 3 months and older (n = 31), excluding 25 children with concomitant infections. Fever was noted in almost half of the children younger than 3 months but was more frequent in older than in younger children (83.9% vs 46.4%). As compared with older children, children younger than 3 months had a lower incidence of respiratory symptoms (30.1% vs 83.9%), more frequently required intensive care unit admission (28.6% vs 3.2%), and had longer hospital stays (mean 10.95 vs 5.13 days). Importantly, about one-third of the children were suspected to have hospital-acquired or cluster infections in the environment of medical institutions, with a significantly high proportion of 42.9% (24/56) in younger infants. Hospital-acquired infections might play a key role in the spread of HPeV, especially in children younger than 3 months.