Article in Japanese

Clinical presentation of children infected with human parainfluenza virus type 3

Kan MATSUMOTO^1）, Zenpei KANO^1）, Yuya MOROOKA^1）, Junnitirou TEDUKA^2）, Yumi MIZUNO^3）, Kenji FURUNO^1）

Background：human parainfluenza virus (HPIV) is a common pathogen that causes respiratory tract infections in children. HPIV infections have various clinical presentations, ranging from mild cases with nasopharyngeal symptoms to severe cases requiring ventilatory management. Currently, the detailed clinical course of HPIV infections is poorly understood. A HPIV-3 epidemic occurred in early summer of 2021. We collected clinical data on all patients with positive HPIV nucleic acid test results.
Methods：In this retrospective observational study, clinical data were extracted from patients who visited our hospital between April and August 2021. They had nasopharyngeal swab samples tested for HPIV nucleic acid and genes using the FilmArray^Ⓡ Respiratory Panel 2.1. The clinical symptoms of the hospitalized patients who tested positive for HPIV-3 were collectively described.
Results：Of the 891 tested patients, 144 (16.2%) had positive test results for HPIV-3, and 129 were ultimately diagnosed with HPIV-3 infection. The median age of the patients was 1 year and 8 months, and the median fever duration was 5 days. Eighty-six (59.7%) of the 144 patients were diagnosed with a lower respiratory tract infection, and- 45 (31.3%) required oxygen administration. Of these, three (2.1%) were admitted to the intensive care unit. Eighteen (12.5%) patients had febrile convulsions, and 13 (72.2%) of them had complicated febrile convulsions.
Conclusion：HPIV-3 infection is a high-burden respiratory tract infection in infants and young children. HPIV-3 infection is associated with a long fever duration and a high risk of lower respiratory tract infection and febrile convulsion.

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1）Department of General Pediatrics and Interdisciplinary Medicine, Fukuoka Childrenʼs Hospital
2）Department of Allergy/Respiratory, Fukuoka Childrenʼs Hospital
3）Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Fukuoka Childrenʼs Hospital

Key words	FilmArrayⓇ Respiratory Panel, PCR, lower respiratory tract infection, febrile convulsion, monitoring
Received	November 7, 2022
Accepted	March 9, 2023

35 (2)：119─128,2023