Detection of human parechovirus in children hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis

OBJECTIVE: To detect human parechovirus (HPeV) from stool samples of hospitalized children for acute gastroenteritis of undetectable etiology. METHODS: We conducted a real-time PCR to detect HPeV. RESULT: The results showed that 24 of 99 (24%) children with gastroenteritis of undetectable etiology were detected with HPeV. Four known HPeV types (HPeV1, 3, 4, 6) were detected in the present study. HPeV1 (50%) was frequently identified as the predominant strain and follow by HPeV3 (25%), HPeV4 (8.3%) and HPeV6 (4.2%). We were unable to type 3 samples. CONCLUSION: HPeV was prevalent in hospitalized children for acute gastroenteritis of undetectable etiology in China. Further study is needed for clarifying the role of HPeV in gastroenteritis.