Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Nov;49(3):158-62.
doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2010.07.016. Epub 2010 Sep 15.

Human bocavirus in children: mono-detection, high viral load and viraemia are associated with respiratory tract infection

Andreas Christensen  1 , Svein Arne Nordbø, Sidsel Krokstad, Anne Gro Wesenberg Rognlien, Henrik Døllner
Affiliations

Human bocavirus in children: mono-detection, high viral load and viraemia are associated with respiratory tract infection

Andreas Christensen et al. J Clin Virol. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1) has recently been detected in children with respiratory tract infections (RTI). In order to study whether HBoV1 can cause RTI, we investigated its presence in children with upper RTI (URTI), lower RTI (LRTI) and a control group of children without RTI.

Study design: Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) and blood samples were collected from children admitted to hospital with RTI from 6 June 2007 to 28 February 2009 (n=1154), and from children admitted for elective surgery who had no RTI (n=162). Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the NPAs were examined for 17 infectious agents including HBoV1. Blood samples were tested with HBoV1-PCR only.

Results: HBoV1 was detected in NPAs from 10% of patients and 17% of controls. Adjusted for age, gender and the presence of other viruses, HBoV1 was not associated with RTI. In the HBoV1-positive NPAs, at least one other virus was detected in 75% and the virus appeared alone in 25%. Adjusted for age and gender, the detection of HBoV1 as the sole virus was associated with RTI, but not with LRTI. Viraemia was found only in children with RTI. The study showed that it was associated with RTI and LRTI. A high HBoV1-load was associated with LRTI, but not with RTI. No interactions between HBoV1 and other infectious agents were found.

Conclusions: Our data support the hypothesis that HBoV1 causes RTI in children, because detection of HBoV1 alone, viraemia and high viral load are associated with RTI and/or LRTI in this age group. However, HBoV1 is common in healthy children.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Monthly distribution of samples positive for HBoV1, rhinovirus and RSV, in the period June 2007–August 2009.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Electron microscopic image taken of serum from a boy of 18 months with HBoV1-infection showing a viral particle with size ca. 25 nm. The image is taken at 200 000× magnification.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Allander T., Tammi M.T., Eriksson M., Bjerkner A., Tiveljung-Lindell A., Andersson B. Cloning of a human parvovirus by molecular screening of respiratory tract samples. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2005;102:12892–12896. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blinkova O., Rosario K., Li L., Kapoor A., Slikas B., Bernardin F. Frequent detection of highly diverse variants of cardiovirus, cosavirus, bocavirus and circovirus in sewage samples collected in the United States. J Clin Microbiol. 2009;47:3507–3513. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fry A.M., Lu X., Chittaganpitch M., Peret T., Fisher J., Dowell S.F. Human bocavirus: a novel parvovirus epidemiologically associated with pneumonia requiring hospitalization in Thailand. J Infect Dis. 2007;195:1038–1045. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Schenk T., Strahm, Kontny U., Hufnagel M., Neumann-Haefelin D., Falcone V. Disseminated bocavirus infection after stem cell transplant. Emerg Infect Dis. 2007;13:1425–1427. - PMC - PubMed
    1. de Vries J.J.C., Bredius R.G.M., van Rheenen P.F., Smiers F.J.W., Schölvinck E.H., Vossen A.C.T.M. Human bocavirus in an immunocompromised child presenting with severe diarrhea. J Clin Microbiol. 2009;47:1241–1243. - PMC - PubMed