The Kansas City investigators found a triad of fever, irritability, and rash as the most common presentation of HPeV in their study, with infections occurring in late summer or autumn with “strikingly variable annual prevalence.”
Dr. Selvarangan and his associates suggested “that HPeV CNS infection should be considered with sepsislike illness of infants even in the absence of CSF pleocytosis.
Addition of HPeV RT-PCR assay to the enterovirus RT-PCR assay on pediatric CSF specimens (particularly infants less than 6 months old) could reduce hospital stay, antibiotic usage, and hospitalization costs,” they commented