High frequency of human bocavirus 1 DNA in infants and adults with lower acute respiratory infection

Abstract

Instituto de Virología 'Dr J. M. Vanella', Facultad de Ciencias Mé dicas, Universidad Nacional de Có rdoba, ArgentinaHuman bocavirus (HBoV) is a parvovirus with a possible aetiological role in respiratory disease that is currently under investigation. We detected HBoV1 in children and adults hospitalized with acute disease of the lower respiratory tract. HBoV genome was detected by PCR in nasopharyngeal swabs collected from 75 patients aged 0-89 years during 2010. HBoV was found in 17/75 (22.7 %) patients, 64.7 % of them infants younger than 1 year old and 29.4 % adults older than 30 years [the bimodal age distribution among HBoV-positive (HBoV + ) patients was statistically significant, P,0.001]. Of all HBoV + cases, 35.3 % were co-infected; all coinfections occurred in children (¡13 years old) and 83.3 % of them were HBoV-respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) co-infections. Among infants younger than 1 year, 50 % HBoV + specimens were co-infected, all of them with RSV. The rate of co-infection in infants was significantly higher compared to the frequency of co-infection in the whole cohort (P50.003). The results suggest that HBoV1 is involved in acute respiratory disease. Interplay between HBoV1 and RSV cannot be discarded as a cause of elevated percentages of co-detections in infants. INTRODUCTIONHuman bocavirus (HBoV) is a parvovirus first identified in 2005 in nasopharyngeal aspirates of children with lower respiratory tract infection (Allander et al., 2005). Since then, it has been associated with upper and lower acute respiratory infection (ARI), a leading cause of acute illnesses worldwide and the most important cause of mortality in infants and young children and disabilityadjusted life-years lost in developing countries (Simoes et al., 2006; WHO, 2009). To date, four species of HBoV have been proposed, and the name human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1) was suggested for the originally discovered virus. HBoV1 is linked to respiratory disease, while it is believed that HBoV2-4 are associated with gastroenteritis (Kapoor et al., 2010). With a ubiquitous distribution, the presence of HBoV DNA has been reported mostly in children with ARI in a variable range from 1.5 to 19 % (Allander, 2008), although recently even higher prevalence (33 %) has been observed in ill children (Martin et al., 2010). Although the virus is associated with ARI, the elevated rates of coinfection with other respiratory viruses with well-established pathogenic potential (Kaplan et al., 2006;Allander et al., 2007;Fry et al., 2007; Gerna et al., 2007;Kleines et al., 2007; Christensen et al., 2008 Christensen et al., , 2010Cilla et al., 2008;Pilger et al., 2011), the detection in asymptomatic individuals (Christensen et al., 2010) and the possibility of a persistent infection (Martin et al., 2010) make it difficult to allocate a causative role for HBoV in respiratory disease. Not only is the aetiological capacity of HBoV under investigation, but the natural history of the infection is still unknown. In addition, the impact of HBoV on the global epid...

Detection of Human Bocavirus in Egyptian Children Suffering from Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Infection

“…Our results was in agreement with Jiang et al, (2016) who reported that the infections almost completely confine to infants and young children also in agreement with most of the previous studies by Allender et al, (2005), Choi et al, (2006), Chow et al, (2009) and Abdel-Moneim et al, (2013). However, some authors reported that HBoV is also a frequent virus in adults with respiratory disease Guido et al, (2012) and Ghietto et al, (2012).…”

Human bocavirus respiratory infection in infants in Córdoba, Argentina

“…7,8 This variability could be due to normal oscillations of the virus circulation, with periodic, higher magnitude outbreaks; the world bibliography reflects divergences based on the region and years analyzed. 5,6 Although possible differences related to sample collection procedures (swab tests or, nasal or nasopharyngeal aspirate specimens) and the methodology used (traditional, real-time PCR) should be considered, local data regarding children hospitalized because of an ARI were obtained based on the detection of the viral genome by traditional PCR in nasopharyngeal aspirate specimens.…”

“…A fraction (200 µL) of the supernatant was retained for HBoV search by traditional PCR and sequencing in compliance with a previously described protocol. 7,8 Bordetella pertussis was investigated when it was appropriate and also The population distribution by epidemiological week is presented in Figure 1; HBoV showed an endemic-epidemic behavior.…”

“…4 Prevalence in children with respiratory disease is significantly different, ranging from 0.9% to 33% in various series .5,6 Locally, studies in symptomatic children and adults have shown variable frequencies (15% to 22%), according to the year they were registered. 7,8 Besides, studies about seroprevalence revealed an immune response in all ages, indicating a wide distribution in the human population as well as an early incidence of the infection. 9 Aiming at providing local epidemiological data on the presence of HBoV in our setting, we decided to estimate its prevalence in children younger than 2 years old hospitalized due to an ARI, and to describe the characteristics of positive cases without proven bacterial nor viral co-infection.…”

Human Bocavirus 1 Infection: Clinical Cases

“…The PCR products were resolved in 10% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and visualized after 0.011 M silver staining. These protocols were described previously [27,28].…”