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Human bocavirus (HBoV) has been detected primarily in children with acute lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD), but its occurrence, clinical profile, and role as a causative agent of RTD are not clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and the potential clinical relevance of HBoV. Using molecular tests, we tested 1352 nasopharyngeal samples obtained between October 1, 2017 and April 30, 2018 from children up to the age of 16 with RTD for the presence of HBoV DNA and 20 other respiratory pathogens at three different hospitals in Belgium. HBoV was detected in 77 children with a median age of 10.6 months. Consecutive samples were available for 15 HBoV-positive children and showed persistent HBoV positivity in four of them. Monoinfection was observed in six infants. Four of them were born prematurely and were infected during hospitalization at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Only one of these six monoinfected children was diagnosed with recurrent wheezing due to HBoV. This child was carried to term and had a high viral load. Coinfections, most frequently with rhinovirus (52.1%) and adenovirus (49.3%), were observed in 72 patients. In seventeen of them in which HBoV was present at high viral load or higher viral load than its copathogens, bronchi(oli)tis (n = 8), recurrent wheezing (n = 8) or episodic wheezing (n = 1) were diagnosed. Our results suggest that HBoV infection at high viral load in infants is associated with wheezing (P = 0.013, Cramer's V = 0.613). Abbreviations BPDBronchopulmonary dysplasia CLD Chronic lung disease CPAP Continuous positive airway pressure Cq Quantitation cycle CRP C-reactive protein EV Enterovirus GI Gastrointestinal HAdV

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Current point-of-care testing (POCT) glucometers are based on various test principles. Two major method groups dominate the market: glucose oxidase-based systems and glucose dehydrogenase-based systems using pyrroloquinoline quinone (GDH-PQQ) as a cofactor. The GDH-PQQ-based glucometers are replacing the older glucose oxidase-based systems because of their lower sensitivity for oxygen. On the other hand, the GDH-PQQ test method results in falsely elevated blood glucose levels in peritoneal dialysis patients receiving solutions containing icodextrin ( e.g., Extraneal; Baxter, Brussels, Belgium). Icodextrin is metabolized in the systemic circulation into different glucose polymers, but mainly maltose, which interferes with the GDH-PQQ-based method. Clinicians should be aware of this analytical interference. The POCT glucometers based on the GDH-PQQ method should preferably not be used in this high-risk population and POCT glucose results inconsistent with clinical suspicion of hypoglycemic coma should be retested with another testing system.

Total analytical variation of handheld glucometers is larger than expected. Clinicians should be aware that the variability of glucose measurements obtained by blood gas instruments is lower than results obtained with handheld glucometers on capillary blood.

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