High diversity of human parechovirus including novel types in stool samples from Ghanaian children.

BACKGROUND: Little is known on human parechovirus (HPeV) infections in Africa.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine the prevalence, genetic diversity, and association with diarrhea of HPeV in Ghanaian children.

STUDY DESIGN: A total of 682 stool samples from a pediatric case-control study on causes of diarrhea collected in 2007-2008 were used. Laboratory analysis included HPeV real-time RT-PCR and sequencing partial viral protein (VP) 1 gene region of HPeV. In addition, data on co-infections using the xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel were available.

RESULTS: Overall, a prevalence of 24% was found and 14 different HPeV types were detected. Phylogenetic analysis of the VP1 region indicated a novel type tentatively designated as HPeV-18. No association with diarrhea was found (OR=0.8; 95% CI: 0.5-1.1), and HPeV viral concentrations were not different among cases and controls. No seasonal pattern was observed. HPeV-positive cases displayed a slightly higher chance of co-infections.

CONCLUSIONS: A high prevalence and genetic diversity of HPeV including novel types was found by sequencing partial VP 1 region. HPeV was not associated with diarrheal disease in this pediatric population and the high number of co-infection suggests transient colonization without clinical relevance.