Human parechovirus-3 infection in a neonate with fever and suspected sepsis]

The human parechovirus (HPeV) are viruses of the recently described Picornaviridae family and are causing several infections in young children. The pathology associated with these viruses is beginning to emerge. The HPeV type 3 has been described particularly in association with sepsis-like febrile syndromes, meningitis and encephalitis in very young infants and neonates. We report the case of a 14-day-old girl with a fever and clinical sepsis that required hospitalisation and in which HPeV-3 was identified in the cerebrospinal fluid. The blood, urine and cerebrospinal fluid bacterial cultures were negative, and the patient improved.