High Prevalence of Human Bocavirus Detected in Young Children with Severe Acute Lower Respiratory Tract Disease by Use of a Standard PCR Protocol and a Novel Real-Time PCR Protocol

Abstract

The human bocavirus (HBoV) was recently isolated from respiratory tract samples. Within a study collective of children with severe lower respiratory tract disease, the patients testing positive for HBoV (12.8%) had a higher rate of underlying cardiopulmonary disease. Viral loads in respiratory tract specimens varied from 10(2) to 10(10) genome equivalents/ml.