Antiviral effects of selected nucleoside analogues against human parechoviruses A1 and A3

Parechoviruses A (HPeV, Picornaviridae) are neglected human pathogens that cause sepsis-like illness and severe neurological complications in infants. There are no antivirals available for the treatment of HPeV infections. We here report on cell-based assays that allow for medium-throughput antiviral screening of compound libraries against HPeV. The nucleoside viral polymerase inhibitor 2′-C-methylcytidine was identified as being an in vitro replication inhibitor of HPeV1 and HPeV3 that can serve as a reference molecule for further antiviral studies.