Human parechovirus infections in children: modern concepts

This article is a review of modern ideas about human parechovirus infection in children. At this time human parechoviruses are a common cause of infectious diseases in childhood with clinical presentation of acute gastroenteritis, upper respiratory tract pathology, fever, and rash. Severe forms damaging the central nervous system or the development of sepsis are possible in newborns and infants and are almost exclusively associated with parechovirus A type 3 (HPeV-A3). The infection is transmitted mainly via food and droplet routes. The main method of infection diagnosis is the detection of viral RNA by real-time PCR in cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and feces. No treatment for the parechovirus infection has been developed so far.