Acute human bocavirus 1 infection in child with life-threatening bilateral bronchiolitis and right-sided pneumonia: a case report

Abstract

Background Human bocavirus 1 is a commonly detected human parvovirus. Many studies have shown human bocavirus 1 as a pathogen in association with acute respiratory tract infections in children. However, because human bocavirus 1 persists in the upper airways for extensive time periods after acute infection, the definition and diagnostics of acute human bocavirus 1 infection is challenging. Until now, detection of human bocavirus 1 exclusively, high viral load in respiratory samples, and viremia have been associated with a clinical picture of acute respiratory illness. There are no studies showing detection of human bocavirus 1 messenger ribonucleic acid in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells as a diagnostic marker for acute lower respiratory tract infection. Case presentation We report the case of a 17-month-old Latvian boy who presented in intensive care unit with acute bilateral bronchiolitis, with a history of rhinorrhea and cough for 6 days and fever for the last 2 days prior to admission, followed by severe respiratory distress and tracheal intubation. Human bocavirus 1 was the only respiratory virus detected by a qualitative multiplex polymerase chain reaction panel. For the diagnosis of acute human bocavirus 1 infection, both molecular and serological approaches were used. Human bocavirus 1 deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was detected simultaneously in nasopharyngeal aspirate, stool, and blood, as well as in the corresponding cell-free blood plasma by qualitative and quantitative polymerase chain reaction, revealing high DNA-copy numbers in nasopharyngeal aspirate and stool. Despite a low-load viremia, human bocavirus 1 messenger ribonucleic acid was found in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells. For detection of human bocavirus 1-specific antibodies, non-competitive immunoglobulin M and competitive immunoglobulin G enzyme immunoassays were used. The plasma was positive for both human bocavirus 1-specific immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin G antibodies. Conclusions The presence of human bocavirus 1 genomic DNA in blood plasma and human bocavirus 1 messenger ribonucleic acid in peripheral blood mononuclear cells together with human bocavirus 1-specific immunoglobulin M are markers of acute human bocavirus 1 infection that may cause life-threatening acute bronchiolitis.

The prevalence of human bocavirus in <2-year-old children with acute bronchiolitis

“…[ 21 ] 2008 French 192 NA NA Nasopharyngeal Aspirate 8.6 24 12.5 10 14 Midulla F et al. [ 11 ] 2010 Italy 182 NA NA Nasal Washings 2.5 22 12.5 15 7 Ricart S et al. [ 16 ] 2013 Spain 484 235 173 Nasopharyngeal Aspirate 12 119 24.58 NA NA Wang k et al.…”

“…So far, there has been one fatality reported in an immunocompetent child due to severe acute bronchiolitis caused by HBoV [ 11 ]. Some studies have described the HBoV as the second or third most prevalent cause of bronchiolitis [ 3 , 12 ].…”

First detection of feline bocaparvovirus 2 and feline chaphamaparvovirus in healthy cats in Turkey

“…The more widespread detection of FBoV-1 in cats with enteric disease (Yi et al 2018 ) may indicate that different genotypes may exhibit different phenotypic characteristics, just like some members of bocaparvoviruses. For example, human bocaparvovirus 1 (HuBoV-1) is often associated with respiratory disease (Koseki et al 2012 ; Meriluoto et al 2012 ; Ziemele et al 2019 ) while HuBoV-2–4 has been associated with enteric diseases (Cheng et al 2011 ; Jin et al 2011 ). Garigliany et al ( 2016 ) reported the presence of FBoV-1 in the brain of an FPV-infected cat with neurological findings.…”

Epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of human bocavirus infection in children hospitalized for acute respiratory tract infection in Qingdao, China

“…HBoV1 is often detected in conjunction with other pathogens; the frequency of coinfections is high, and the clinical symptoms are more severe than those associated with monoinfections (Sun et al, 2019 ). However, there have been instances of life-threatening infections caused by a single infection (Ziemele et al, 2019 ). Furthermore, it is not yet known whether HBoV is a true ARI pathogen, making the diagnosis of acute HBoV1 infection very challenging.…”