What are the benefits of molecular testing of cerebrospinal fluid of young febrile infants for enteroviruses?

In a planned secondary analysis of a retrospective cohort study in which the primary goal was to determine prevalence of herpes simplex virus infection in infants <60 days of age who were evaluated in emergency departments and had cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examined, the impact of concurrent performance of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for enteroviruses was sought. Eighteen hospitals participating in the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Collaborative Research Committee network contributed 19 953 cases with the required data points available over 9 years! The primary outcome measure sought was hospital length of stay (LOS) as related to performance of CSF PCR.

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