Department of Cell Biology, University of São Paulo School of Medicine, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.
PLoS One. 2011;6(6):e21083. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021083. Epub 2011 Jun 20.
Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a parvovirus recently identified in association with acute respiratory infections (ARI). Despite its worldwide occurrence, little is known on the pathogenesis of HBoV infections. In addition, few systematic studies of HBoV in ARI have been conducted in Latin America. Therefore, in order to test whether active viral replication of human bocavirus is associated with respiratory diseases and to understand the clinical impact of this virus in patients with these diseases, we performed a 3-year retrospective hospital-based study of HBoV in outpatients and inpatients with symptoms of Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) in Brazil. Nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPAs) from 1015 patients with respiratory symptoms were tested for HBoV DNA by PCR. All samples positive for HBoV were tested by PCR for all other respiratory viruses, had HBoV viral loads determined by quantitative real time PCR and, when possible, were tested by RT-PCR for HBoV VP1 mRNA, as evidence of active viral replication. HBoV was detected in 4.8% of patients, with annual rates of 10.0%, 3.0% and 3.0% in 2005, 2006 and 2007, respectively. The range of respiratory symptoms was similar between HBoV-positive and HBoV-negative ARI patients. However, a higher rate of diarrhea was observed in HBoV-positive patients. High HBoV viral loads (>10⁸ copies/mL) and diarrhea were significantly more frequent in patients with exclusive infection by HBoV and in patients with detection of HBoV VP1 mRNA than in patients with viral co-infection, detected in 72.9% of patients with HBoV. In summary, our data demonstrated that active HBoV replication was detected in a small percentage of patients with ARI and was correlated with concurrent diarrhea and lack of other viral co-infections.
人博卡病毒（HBoV）是一种最近被发现与急性呼吸道感染（ARI）相关的细小病毒。尽管它在全球范围内存在，但人们对 HBoV 感染的发病机制知之甚少。此外，在拉丁美洲，对 ARI 中 HBoV 的系统研究很少。因此，为了检测人博卡病毒的活跃病毒复制是否与呼吸道疾病有关，并了解该病毒在这些疾病患者中的临床影响，我们对巴西门诊和住院的急性呼吸道感染（ARI）患者进行了为期 3 年的基于医院的 HBoV 回顾性研究。通过 PCR 检测 1015 例有呼吸道症状患者的鼻咽抽吸物（NPA）中的 HBoV DNA。所有 HBoV 阳性样本均通过 PCR 检测所有其他呼吸道病毒，通过定量实时 PCR 确定 HBoV 病毒载量，并在可能的情况下通过 RT-PCR 检测 HBoV VP1 mRNA，以证明活跃的病毒复制。在 4.8%的患者中检测到 HBoV，2005 年、2006 年和 2007 年的年发病率分别为 10.0%、3.0%和 3.0%。HBoV 阳性和 HBoV 阴性 ARI 患者的呼吸道症状范围相似。然而，HBoV 阳性患者腹泻的发生率更高。在 HBoV 单一感染患者和检测到 HBoV VP1 mRNA 的患者中，高 HBoV 病毒载量（>10⁸拷贝/ml）和腹泻的发生率明显高于病毒合并感染患者，在 72.9%的 HBoV 患者中检测到病毒合并感染。总之，我们的数据表明，活跃的 HBoV 复制在一小部分 ARI 患者中被检测到，与并发腹泻和缺乏其他病毒合并感染有关。
