HPeV-3 predominated among Parechovirus A positive infants during an outbreak in 2013–2014 in Queensland, Australia

•HPeV-3 was the only Parechovirus A genotype found in CNS of ill Queensland infants.•HPeV testing requests peaked between spring 2013 to autumn 2014.•HPeV testing should be routine for CSF from infants with acute CNS-related symptoms.•VP3/VP1 HPeV sequence analysis is rapid and can robustly identify most genotypes. Parechoviruses (HPeV) are endemic seasonal pathogens detected from the respiratory tract, gut, blood and central nervous system (CNS) of children and adults, sometimes in conjunction with a range of acute illnesses. HPeV CNS infection may lead to neurodevelopmental sequelae, especially following infection by HPeV-3, hence screening and genotyping are important to inform epidemiology, aetiology and prognosis. To identify and characterise HPeVs circulating during an outbreak between November 2013 and April 2014 in Queensland, Australia. To perform PCR-based screening and comparative nucleotide sequence analysis on samples from children with clinically suspected infections submitted to a research laboratory for HPeV investigations. HPeVs were detected among 25/62 samples, identified as HPeV-3 from 23 that could be genotyped. These variants closely matched those which have occurred worldwide and in other States of Australia. The inclusion of PCR-based HPeV testing is not systematically applied but should be considered essential for children under 3 months of age with CNS symptoms as should long-term follow-up of severe sepsis-like cases.