Human bocavirus in children suffering from acute lower respiratory tract infection in Beijing Children's Hospital.
BACKGROUND
Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a parvovirus recently found to possibly cause respiratory tract disease in children and adults. This study investigated HBoV infection and its clinical characteristics in children younger than five years of age suffering from acute lower respiratory tract infection in Beijing Children's Hospital.


METHODS
Nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from children suffering from acute lower respiratory tract infection during the winters of 2004 to 2006 (from November through the following February). HBoV was detected by polymerase chain reaction amplification and virus isolation and the amplification products were sequenced for identification.


RESULTS
HBoV infection was detected in 16 of 333 study subjects. Coinfections with respiratory syncytial virus were detected in 3 of 16 HBoV positive patients with acute lower respiratory tract infection. The median age for HBoV positive children was 8 months (mean age, 17 months; range, 3 to 57 months). Among the HBoV positive children, 14 were younger than 3 years old, 9 were younger than 1 year old and 7 were younger than 6 months. These 16 positive HBoV children exhibited coughing and abnormal chest radiography findings and more than 60% of these children had wheezing and fever. Ten children were clinically diagnosed with pneumonia, 2 bronchiolitis, 2 acute bronchitis and 2 asthma. One child died.


CONCLUSIONS
HBoV was detected in about 5% of children with acute lower respiratory infection seen in Beijing Children's Hospital. Further investigations regarding clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of HBoV infection are needed.
Zhang
Li-Li
LL
Virus Laboratory, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100045, China.
Tang
Liu-Ying
LY
Xie
Zheng-De
ZD
Tan
Xiao-Juan
XJ
Li
Chong-Shan
CS
Cui
Ai-Li
AL
Ji
Yi-Xin
YX
Xu
Song-Tao
ST
Mao
Nai-Ying
NY
Xu
Wen-Bo
WB
Shen
Kun-Ling
KL
D052660:Bocavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010322:Parvoviridae Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology