Parechovirus Genotype 3 Outbreak among Infants, New South Wales, Australia, 2013-2014

• Published in: Emerging infectious diseases Vol. 21; no. 7; pp. 1144 - 1152
• Main Authors: Cumming, Germaine, Khatami, Ameneh, McMullan, Brendan J, Musto, Jennie, Leung, Kit, Nguyen, Oanh, Ferson, Mark J, Papadakis, Georgina, Sheppeard, Vicky
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases 01.07.2015; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Subjects: Disease Outbreaks; Epidemiological Monitoring; Female; Genes, Viral; Genotype; human parechovirus 3; human parechovirus 3, piconarvirus; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; infantile fever; infantile fever, neonatal infection, sepsis-like syndrome, skin rash, emerging infectious disease, public health surveillance, viruses, New South Wale; Male; Molecular Diagnostic Techniques; neonatal infection; New South Wales - epidemiology; Parechovirus - genetics; Parechovirus Genotype 3 Outbreak among Infants, New South Wales, Australia, 2013–2014; piconarvirus; Picornaviridae Infections - diagnosis; Picornaviridae Infections - epidemiology; Picornaviridae Infections - virology; New South Wales; Australia; skin rash; New South Wales; viruses; public health surveillance; infantile fever; sepsis-like syndrome; neonatal infection; human parechovirus 3; Australia; piconarvirus
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059
• DOI: 10.3201/eid2107.141149

From October 2013 through February 2014, human parechovirus genotype 3 infection was identified in 183 infants in New South Wales, Australia. Of those infants, 57% were male and 95% required hospitalization. Common signs and symptoms were fever >38°C (86%), irritability (80%), tachycardia (68%), and rash (62%). Compared with affected infants in the Northern Hemisphere, infants in New South Wales were slightly older, both sexes were affected more equally, and rash occurred with considerably higher frequency. The New South Wales syndromic surveillance system, which uses near real-time emergency department and ambulance data, was useful for monitoring the outbreak. An alert distributed to clinicians reduced unnecessary hospitalization for patients with suspected sepsis.