Question: Our granddaughter who is 3 weeks old today (she was born on XXXXXXX 17) was diagnosed today with Human parechovirus. It showed up in her spinal fluid after a spinal tap. She was doing well following birth and she had gained one pound. She was 7 lbs. 12 ozs. at birth and she was 8 lbs. 12 ozs the day before she got sick. Her parents took her to the emergency room of our local hospital in western North XXXXXXX about 1 am after noting that the baby was lethargic, wouldn't nurse and she had a temp of 100.5 rectally. The doctor in our small town hospital sent the family to a bigger hospital where they had a pediatrician. He kept them there for almost 30 hours and when after trying and failing three times to get a spinal tap, they sent her by ambulance to our closest bigger hospital. The doctors said that she could get more specialized care there. The doctors we're able to get a spinal tap there about 24 hours ago. We found out this past afternoon that they had discovered this virus in the spinal fluid. The baby also has had a recurring fever and her oxygen level has gone down several times and it set off an alarm and it was even down to 55% so now the doctors have oxygen on her all the time. Our son told me this past evening that they haven't wanted her to nurse for a while because her stomach was getting distended. The pediatrician at the second hospital told our son and his wife that he suspected that the baby had viral encephalitis, They havenn't been told that at the 3rd hospital. We do suspect that she does have that and possibly even spinal meningitis if the meninges are invvolved and inflamed also. They heard that this virus that she has is extremely rare. My question for you is since it is so rare, do the doctors now how to treat it? And where did she get it? My daughter-in-law was diagnosed with Strep B during the pregnancy and she had to have an IV antibiotic prior to her delivery and I also think that she had another IV dose of antibiotic following her delivery. Could the virus still have come from the baby's mother? I won't tell her that even if it could be the cause because I would never want to have her feel that this could be her fault. She is the nicest young woman I know and I would not want to hurt her. Our son told me about 10 hours ago that the next two days are very critical for the baby. We are all very distraught over the whole medical situation. The family pastor went to the hospital which is 200 miles away from us and baptized and anointed the baby yesterday. We feel good about that. We know that she is extremely ill and what is the prognosis of such this terrible medical illness? Thank you so much for any information you can give me regarding this medical situation.

HOW LONG WILL OUR GRANDDAUGHTER BE SICK WITH THIS VIRUS AND WHEN WILL WE KNOW IF SHE HAS LASTING EFFECTS FROM IT?