Acute Human Bocavirus 1 Infection in Children Hospitalized for Acute Bronchiolitis: A 2-Year Prospective Study.

BACKGROUND

The objective of this prospective study was to assess the proportion and clinical consequences of human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1) replication in children hospitalized for acute bronchiolitis (AB) with HBoV1 DNA in the nasopharynx (NP).

METHODS

For this purpose, we detected HBoV1 DNA and mRNA (evidence of viral replication and viable virus) in NP in cases and healthy control children. This research allowed us to distinguish active HBoV1 infections from inactive ones.

RESULTS

HBoV1 DNA was detected in the NP of 37 of 307 patients with AB (12.1%) and 9 of 150 children in a healthy control group (6%) with a high codetection rate with other respiratory viruses in AB patients, 28 of 37 (75.7%). Only 9 of 37 HBoV1 DNA-positive NP swabs (24.3%) with high DNA load were also HBoV1 mRNA positive, moreover, HBoV1 DNA was also detected in the plasma of these patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results of our study, we can conclude that children with AB acute HBoV1 infection has a high HBoV1 DNA load in NP samples together with detected HBoV1 mRNA and detected HBoV1 DNA in plasma.