A prospective study of enterovirus infection in Thai infants presenting as sepsis.
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Date
2007-06
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Abstract
Objective: To study prospectively the prevalence, clinical presentations and laboratory findings of enterovirus
(EV) infection in infants under 3 months of age who present as a sepsis-like syndrome.
Method: All infants less than 3 month of age admitted as a sepsis-like syndrome to King Chulalongkorn
Memorial Hospital between April 2003 and February 2004 were included. Patients who were immunocompromised
or who had been admitted for longer than 14 days before developing symptoms were excluded. A detailed
history, physical and laboratory findings were recorded and analyzed. Specimens of blood and cerebrospinal
fluid were tested for enteroviruses using Nucleic Acid Sequence-Based Amplification (NASBA). Patients were
followed to determine the clinical outcome and duration of hospitalization.
Results: Of 56 infants, thirty-six were admitted to the pediatric wards and 20 had been hospitalized since birth
in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) or nursery wards. Enterovirus infection was diagnosed in 13 (36.1 %)
of the patients admitted to the pediatric wards and none in the group of NICU/nursery patients. The most
common clinical presentations were high grade fever (92 %), rashes (77 %) and lethargy (54 %) as compared to
fever (78.3 %), poor feeding (60.9 %) and lethargy (56.5 %) in the EV negative group. Ten (76.9 %) of the
enterovirus positive infants had evidence of central nervous system (CNS) involvement as evidenced by the
presence of EV RNA in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or CSF pleocytosis plus EV RNA in blood and/or CSF.
Nevertheless, CSF pleocytosis was found in only 7 infants (53.8 %). Average duration of illness was 3.2 days
as compared to 3.5 days in the nonenteroviral group with similar clinical features. All enterovirus positive
patients had an uncomplicated recovery. Ten (76.9 %) received parenteral antibiotics for a mean of 5 days
(versus 4.8 days in enterovirus negative group). The average length of stay was 8.1 days as compared to 15 days
in enterovirus negative group.
Conclusion: Enterovirus infections are important causes of a sepsis-like syndromes in infants under 3 months
of age. Most enterovirus infected patients presented with fever without localizing signs and rashes. Detection
of enterovirus RNA by NASBA in serum and/or CSF represents a rapid method for the diagnosis of enterovirus
infection in infants presenting with a sepsis-like syndrome.
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Keywords
Enterovirus, infant, NASBA, sepsis
Citation
Asian Biomedicine (Research Reviews and News); Vol. 1 No. 1 June 2007; 59-65.