Epidemiological characteristics and genotypes of parechovirus A from children with acute diarrhea in Beijing in 2021 / 公共卫生与预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the epidemiological chatacteristics and genotypes of parechovirus A (PeV-A) from children with acute diarrhea in Beijing in 2021. Methods Fecal samples were randomly collected from outpatient children under 60 months with acute diarrhea in a sentinel hospital in Beijing from January to December of 2021. RNA was extracted and detected for PeV-A by real-time RT-PCR. Nested RT-PCR was performed to amplify the VP3/VP1 conjunction region. PeV-A genotypes were determined based on sequencing and NCBI BLAST. Group A rotavirus, norovirus, enteric adenovirus, astrovirus and sapovirus were also detected for co-infection analysis. Phylogenetic and statistical analyses were performed using bioinformatics and statistical software. Results Of the 198 stool samples, 11 were positive for PeV-A, with a detection rate of 5.56% (11/198). Among them, 2 cases were co-infected with enteric adenovirus. 81.82% (9/11) of PeV-A infected cases were under 24 months. The highest detection rate was observed in fall, which was 12.50% (7/56). 90.91%（10/11）of PeV-A infection occurred in summer and fall. Among the 11 PeV-A isolates, 9 were sequenced successfully, of which 7 belonged to PeV-A1B genotype and 2 belonged to PeV-A3 genotype. Conclusion PeV-A1B and PeV-A3 are identified in children with acute gastroenteritis in Beijing in 2021. Infants and young children under 2 years old are the high-risk population for PeV-A infection. Most infections occur in summer and fall.