Bronchiectasis secondary to primary immunodeficiency in childhood is not always a progressive condition, suggesting a potential to slow or prevent disease progression with appropriate treatment.

INTRODUCTION: Human bocavirus (family Parvoviridae) was recently identified in children with respiratory tract infection (RTI), first in Sweden, and subsequently in different parts of the world. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to gain insight into the epidemiology of bocavirus in children with RTI in Greece. METHODS: One hundred ten throat-swab samples were collected during the autumn and winter months of 2006–2007 from previously healthy children (aged 1 month to 13 years) who were hospitalized for RTI. DNA was extracted from the samples, and polymerase chain reaction was performed to amplify the NS1 gene of the bocavirus genome. Polymerase chain reaction products were sequenced and compared with respective bocavirus sequences. RESULTS: Bocavirus DNA was detected in 10 samples (9%). Comparison with previously identified bocavirus sequences showed a high degree of identity. Mean age of the children was 1.8 years (range: 2 months to 4 years). The most common symptoms were fever, cough, and various degrees of respiratory distress. A majority of the children (9 of 10) were clinically diagnosed as having lower RTI, mainly acute bronchiolitis and pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of human bocavirus infection in Greece, which suggests that the virus is spread worldwide, and it is associated with RTI in infants and young children.

Clinical manifestations of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection vary from minimal disease to severe acute bronchiolitis. The structural complex of TLR4/CD14 participates in the virus recognition as a component of natural immune response. Genetic variations of TLR4/CD14 may explain great variations in disease severity. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of polymorphisms of TLR4, Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile and CD14, C-159T and C-550T in the development of RSV bronchiolitis. Our study included two groups of Greek infants and young children (A and B). Group A consisted of 50 infants ≤2 years of age hospitalised with bronchiolitis and group B of 99 previously healthy children aged 4-14 years (control group) with a free past medical history. RSV was identified by PCR of genetic material that was extracted from nasopharyngeal samples collected from all patients. Blood samples were used to extract DNA and by using the PCR-RFLP method we performed TLR4 and CD14 genotyping. We found no association between TLR4 polymorphisms (Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile) and the development of acute bronchiolitis. For CD14 polymorphisms, a positive association was found between the C-159T and the development of bronchiolitis (p=0.05) but not for the other loci. There were no differences detected in the frequencies of the four polymorphisms studied among infants with RSV and non-RSV bronchiolitis. It is concluded that protein CD14 may have a functional role in the viral conjunction to the structural complex TLR4/CD14. The association between the polymorphism C-159T and the manifestation of disease found in our study points out that the severity in the development of acute bronchiolitis is not specified exclusively by the pathogen, but the immune response of the host also plays a significant role. More extensive multicentric studies need to take place, in order to lead to safer conclusions.

Our findings suggest that obesity per se does not correlate to airway hyperreactivity unless it is accompanied by glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2017;52:160-166. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.