CHILDREN WITH PERSISTENT WHEEZING ASSOCIATED WITH HUMAN BOCAVIRUS INFECTION IN CHINA

INTRODUCTION: Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a newly identified human parvovirus that was originally isolated from children with lower respiratory tract disease. The impact of HBoV on childhood persistent wheezing has not been identified. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to study the impact of HBoV on childhood persistent wheezing. METHODS: In this study, a total of 40 tracheal aspirates were obtained by bronchofibroscope from children with persistent wheezing who had been wheezing for at least >4 weeks. HBoV was detected by polymerase chain reaction. A rapid immunofluorescence method was used for diagnosis of respiratory syncytial virus, adenovirus, influenza A and B, and parainfluenza 1, 2, and 3. RESULTS: In 40 children with persistent wheezing, 13 (32.5%) had DNA sequences that were HBoV-positive. Age of the patients with HBoV-positive infection ranged from 1 month to 2 years. The results of polymerase chain reaction products sequencing proved that these 13 samples were exactly identical to the sequence of HBoV published in GenBank (accession Nos. DQ988934 and DQ457413). Two children with HBoV infection were found to have coinfection with respiratory syncytial virus. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed that HBoV is a common pathogen for children with lower respiratory infection and might particularly be attributed to persistent wheezing. However, more studies should be performed to study the mechanism of HBoV on chronic airway inflammation.