[Detection of parechovirus in infectious gastroenteritis patients from Kanagawa Prefecture Region. Fecal specimens sent from the pediatric sentinel clinics from April 2008 to March 2011].

To clarify the causative viruses of infectious gastroenteritis, fecal specimens were sent from the pediatric sentinel clinic in Kanagawa Prefecture except for Kawasaki City, Yokohama City, Yokosuka City, Sagamihara City, and Fujisawa City. About 50% of fecal specimens were not negative for causative viruses. A total of 374 fecal specimens which were known to be negative for rotavirus, adenovirus, norovirus, sapovirus, and astrovirus were tested for human parechovirus (HPeV). HPeVs VP1 genes were detected in 15 samples from 374 fecal specimens which were tested from April 2008 to March 2011. Sequencing analysis of a 800-nt portion of the HPeV VP1 gene of these 8 strains and 7 specimens from April 2008 to March 2011 showed that one specimen in Septenber 2008 was classified as HPeV4 and 14 of the others were classified as HPeV1.