Role of Maternal Antibodies in Infants with Severe Diseases Related to Human Parechovirus Type 3 |
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| Authors: | Yuta Aizawa Kanako Watanabe Tomohiro Oishi Harunobu Hirano Isao Hasegawa Akihiko Saitoh |
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| Affiliation: | Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan (Y. Aizawa, T. Oishi, A. Saitoh); ;Niigata University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Niigata (K. Watanabe); ;Saiseikai Niigata Daini Hospital, Niigata (H. Hirano, I. Hasegawa); ;University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California, USA (A. Saitoh) |
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| Abstract: | Human parechovirus type 3 (HPeV3) is an emerging pathogen that causes sepsis and meningoencephalitis in young infants. To test the hypothesis that maternal antibodies can protect this population, we measured neutralizing antibody titers (NATs) to HPeV3 and other genotypes (HPeV1 and HPeV6) in 175 cord blood samples in Japan. The seropositivity rate (>1:32) for HPeV3 was 61%, similar to that for the other genotypes, but decreased significantly as maternal age increased (p<0.001). Furthermore, during the 2014 HPeV3 epidemic, prospective measurement of NATs to HPeV3 in 45 patients with severe diseases caused by HPeV3 infection showed low NATs (<1:16) at onset and persistently high NATs (>1:512) until age 6 months. All intravenous immunoglobulin samples tested elicited high NATs to HPeV3. Our findings indicate that maternal antibodies to HPeV3 may help protect young infants from severe diseases related to HPeV3 and that antibody supplementation may benefit these patients. |
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| Keywords: | Human parechovirus type 3 emerging infection antibody neonates infants intravenous immunoglobulin maternal age sepsis meningoencephalitis viruses |
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