Epidemic Myalgia in Adults Associated with Human Parechovirus Type 3 Infection, Yamagata, Japan, 2008

• Main Authors: Katsumi Mizuta, Makoto Kuroda, Masayuki Kurimura, Yoshikazu Yahata, Tsuyoshi Sekizuka, Yoko Aoki, Tatsuya Ikeda, Chieko Abiko, Masahiro Noda, Hirokazu Kimura, Tetsuya Mizutani, Takeo Kato, Toru Kawanami, Tadayuki Ahiko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2012-11-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: epidemic myalgia; human parechovirus; myositis; Japan; HPeV; parechovirus
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/11/11-1570_article

Human parechovirus has rarely been shown to cause clinical disease in adults. During June–August 2008, a total of 22 adults sought treatment at Yonezawa City Hospital in Yamagata, Japan, for muscle pain and weakness of all limbs; most also had fever and sore throat. All patients received a clinical diagnosis of epidemic myalgia; clinical laboratory findings suggested an acute inflammatory process. Laboratory confirmation of infection with human parechovirus type 3 (HPeV3) was made for 14 patients; we isolated HPeV3 from 7 patients, detected HPeV3 genome in 11, and observed serologic confirmation of infection in 11. Although HPeV3 is typically associated with disease in young children, our results suggest that this outbreak of myalgia among adults was associated with HPeV3 infection. Clinical consideration should be given to HPeV3 not only in young children but also in adults when an outbreak occurs in the community.