Clinical Characteristics of Saffold Virus Infection in Children

Saffold virus (SAFV) is a novel human cardiovirus that was identified in 2007. Recently, SAFV has been isolated from nasal and stool specimens of infants presenting with respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms and from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens of children with central nervous system infection. However, little is known regarding clinical characteristics of SAFV in children.

We reviewed 5412 specimens from the database of the infectious agents surveillance system in Niigata prefecture, Japan, between January 2006 and December 2013, and identified SAFV-infected patients. Subsequently, we retrospectively reviewed their medical records and evaluated their clinical characteristics.

We identified 9 SAFV-infected patients (median age: 5 years; range: 2-16 years). Seven patients were diagnosed with pharyngitis, one with meningitis and one with fever of unknown origin. Dominant symptoms were high fever, appetite loss and headache. The median duration of the fevers was 2 days in patients with pharyngitis; however, the patient with meningitis remained febrile for 5 days. All blood tests available in this case series revealed leukocytosis with a predominance of neutrophils. CSF profiles showed mild lymphocytic pleocytosis. All patients recovered fully without complications.

A few clinical characteristics of SAFV infection were clarified, including high fever of short duration in patients with pharyngitis, and neutrophil-dominant leukocytosis. The clinical course and CSF profiles of a case of meningitis were similar to those of other aseptic meningitis. SAFV needs to be included in the differential diagnosis of pharyngitis or meningitis when commonly identified viruses are not identified in such patients.