Animal Bocaviruses: A Brief Review

The recently discovered human Bocavirus has been preliminary classified into the genus <i>Bocavirus</i> of the family <i>Parvoviridae</i>. Animal bocaviruses have been known in veterinary medicine since the early 1960s. This paper reviews the current knowledge about the two eponymous members of the genus: bovine parvovirus (BPV) and canine minute virus (CnMV). In contrast to other parvoviruses, bocaviruses contain a third open reading frame in the mid of the genome encoding for a highly phosphorylated non-structural protein, NP1, whose function has not yet been determined. The VP1-unique region of BPV and CnMV contains a phospholipase A₂ sequence motif. Both viruses cause diseases of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract and are known to infect fetuses and to cause reproductive disorders. Especially young animals suffer from disease, whereas in adults subclinical infection is common. Clinical signs include diarrhea, vomiting, dyspnea, embryonic/fetal death after transplacental infection early and abortion late in gestation. Both viruses have in common that they are widespread in their host species as worldwide serosurveys indicate. For BPV it has been shown that sialated glycoproteins mediate hemagglutination reaction and function as receptor for virus attachment on permissive cells.