Parechovirus: neglected for too long?

Abstract

Parechoviruses are non-enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses that have been isolated from multiple vertebrate species. Infection with these etiologic agents of typically mild childhood respiratory and gastrointestinal illness in humans is nearly universal, and a subset of infected neonates and infants develop severe neurologic diseases. Rodent parechoviruses cause myocarditis, encephalitis, and perinatal death in multiple rodent species. The key steps of the viral life cycle, clinical characteristics, and global burden of these viruses are not well characterized yet, particularly for nonhuman parechoviruses. Here, we review the history of human and nonhuman parechovirus isolation, global seroprevalence and distribution, viral biology, and evolution, considering these factors might contribute to host specificity, virulence, tissue tropism, pathogenesis, host immunity, and population dynamics.