title: Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis After Human Parechovirus Infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is an inflammatory, demyelinating disease occurring several weeks after viral infection. Enteroviruses have been described as potential triggers of ADEM, but the closely related parechoviruses have not. The objective of the study is to assess the prevalence and disease presentation of ADEM after parechovirus infection in a syndromic surveillance program for pediatric infection/inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS).
  
  
  METHODS
  The surveillance was conducted at the Charité Department of Pediatrics in Berlin, Germany, from November 2010 to November 2014. All hospitalized children meeting predefined case criteria underwent highly standardized prospective clinical assessments based on the published case definitions, including for ADEM. Stool samples were independently analyzed by enterovirus and parechovirus real-time polymerase chain reaction at the Robert Koch Institute.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 105,557 patients screened, 774 (0.7%) fulfilled entry criteria for CNS infection/inflammation, with 114 cases ascertained as ADEM. Parechoviruses were detected in 2.5% of patients with CNS infection/inflammation, including 1 case fulfilling ADEM case criteria with the highest level of diagnostic certainty.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report a first case of ADEM after parechovirus infection in a 5-year-old female presenting with acute hemiparesis 2 weeks after a respiratory illness. Parechovirus disease should be included in the differential diagnosis of ADEM.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Pediatrics, Charité University Medical Center; †Medical Bioinformatics Group, Free University; ‡Institute for Cell and Neurobiology, Charité University Medical Center; §Center for Social Pediatrics (SPZ), Charité University Medical Center; and ¶National Reference Center for Poliomyelitis and Enteroviruses, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Patrick E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Obermeier
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karsch
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hoppe
authors.forename: Lea
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Seeber
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Susann
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mühlhans
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Franziska
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tief
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kaindl
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Weschke
authors.forename: Sindy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Böttcher
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diedrich
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rath
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004673:Encephalomyelitis, Acute Disseminated / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D030061:Parechovirus; D010850:Picornaviridae Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000821:virology*; D015995:Prevalence; D062486:Public Health Surveillance