‘Human bocavirus in Pakistani children with gastroenteritis'

Abstract

Human Bocaviruses (HBoV) have been detected in human respiratory and gastrointestinal infections worldwide. Four genotypes of HBoV (HBoV1-4) have been described; HBoV-1 is associated with respiratory tract infections while HBoV-2, -3, and -4 genotypes are considered as entero-pathogenic although the exact role largely remains unclear. The global prevalence of HBoV has been reported, but the epidemiological data from Pakistan is largely unavailable to date. This study was conducted to understand the genetic diversity and disease prevalence of HBoV in hospitalized Pakistani children with acute diarrhea. During 2009, a total of 365 stool samples were collected from children hospitalized with gastrointestinal symptoms (as per WHO case definitions) at Rawalpindi General Hospital, Pakistan. Demographic and clinical data were recorded using a standardized questionnaire. The samples were tested for HBoV and rotavirus using real-time RT-PCR and ELISA, respectively. There were 47 (13%) samples positive for HBoV with 98% (n = 46) showing co-infection with rotavirus. HBoV-1 was the most frequently detected and was found in 94% samples followed by HBoV-2 and HBoV-3 genotypes. The mean age of infected children was 7.57 ± 5.4 months while detection was more frequent in males (n = 32, 68%). All cases recovered after 2.43 ± 1.0 mean days of treatment. On phylogenetic analysis, HBoV strains from Pakistan clustered closely with viruses from neighboring Bangladesh and China. These findings represent the first known epidemiological study in Pakistan to investigate the role of HBoV in acute gastroenteritis. The clinical data demonstrates that HBoV is not significantly associated with gastroenteritis alone and predominantly co-infections with rotavirus are found.

Aichivirus in Children with Diarrhea in Northern Italy

“…Our results confirmed that enteric viruses play an important role in pediatric diarrhea, and further that the most common viral agent associated with gastroenteritis is NoV, followed by RV, HAstrV, HBoV, SaV, HPeV, AdV, and SalV. The prevalence rates of RV, SaV, HPeV, AdV, and HBoV were similar to those reported previously [32, 34-36]. However, the detection rates of 40.5 and 18.87% for NoV and HAstrV, respectively, in this study were higher than those reported previously in Italy [37-39] but similar to those in the recent study of Rovida et al [40].…”

Human Bocavirus in Korean Children with Gastroenteritis and Respiratory Tract Infections

“…Previous reports have indicated detection rates of HBoV in pediatric patients with respiratory tract infection symptoms ranging from 1.5% to 19% [9, 18, 19], and those in pediatric patients with gastroenteritis symptoms ranging from 0.8% to 42% [13, 20, 21]. Such high variation among studies may be due to differences in geography, season, and detection methods of HBoV.…”

“…Respiratory infection usually occurs from late spring to early summer [22], whereas gastroenteritis more frequently occurs in the winter and late spring [13]. The present study was conducted with specimens collected within a short period; therefore, one of the limitations of this study is that the overall incidence may have been biased based on the season of collection (late winter to spring).…”

“…However, HBoV-1 is also often detected in fecal specimens together with HBoV-2 [21], and in some regions, HBoV-1 was the most frequently detected HBoV genotype from fecal specimens [13, 24]. Although the etiology of gastroenteritis caused by HBoV-1 has not yet been clearly revealed, it has been speculated that HBoV first causes respiratory tract infections that persist without symptoms for several months; thereafter, the virus penetrates to the gastrointestinal tract and causes symptoms of gastroenteritis [21, 25].…”

“…Among these genes, NS1 has the most conserved sequence, showing the lowest genetic diversity among all HBoV subtypes [10]; thus, this gene has been preferentially used as a target for the detection of HBoV [4, 11]. By contrast, VP1/VP2 forms a variable region showing high genetic diversity and has been mostly used for the phylogenetic analysis of HBoV [12, 13]. …”