title: Diversity of human parechoviruses in Bulgaria, 2011: Detection of rare genotypes 8 and 10.
abstract: Human parechovirus (HPeV) infections are commonly asymptomatic but are also found in association with symptoms of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract, or central nervous system. In order to study their distribution and genetic diversity in Bulgaria, specimens from 229 children aged <5years old hospitalized due to neurological manifestations (n=104) and acute gastroenteritis (n=125) were analyzed. Stool samples were tested using reverse transcription followed by real-time polymerase chain reaction toward the 5'UTR region, and the HPeVs detected were identified by PCR directed to VP1 followed by sequencing. HPeV infection rates of 1.9% and 7.2% were found in children presented with neurological symptoms or with acute diarrhea, respectively. Four different HPeV genotypes, HPeV-3 (n=2), HPeV-5 (n=2), HPeV-8 (n=1) and HPeV-10 (n=1) were identified. All but two HPeVs were detected in acute diarrheal cases, while a single HPeV-3 strain and an HPeV-8 strain were detected in association with facial palsy and encephalitis, respectively. This is the first report of HPeV-8 and HPeV-10 in Europe.
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory of Enteroviruses, Department of Virology, National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, Bulgaria. Electronic address: zornitsavmbg@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Zornitsa
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mladenova
authors.affiliation: National Reference Laboratory of Enteroviruses, Department of Virology, National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Antoaneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dikova
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Aksara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thongprachum
authors.affiliation: Infectious Ward, University Multi-profiled Hospital for Active Treatment "St. Anna", Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Petar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.affiliation: Multi-profiled Hospital for Active Treatment "Prof. St. Kirkovich", Stara Zagora, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Liliq
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pekova
authors.affiliation: University Multi-profiled Hospital for Active Treatment "St. George", Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Radka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Komitova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Miren
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iturriza-Gomara
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ushijima
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002031:Bulgaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D020805:Central Nervous System Viral Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005759:Gastroenteritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000821:virology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D030061:Parechovirus / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D010850:Picornaviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D012367:RNA, Viral; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: Acute gastroenteritis; Genotype; HPeV-10; HPeV-8; Neurological infection; Parechovirus