Human Bocavirus (HBoV) was discovered in 2005 using a molecular virus screening technique. It is often found in respiratory samples and is a likely cause for respiratory diseases in children. HBoV is distributed worldwide and has been found not only in respiratory samples, but also in feces, urine and serum. HBoV infections are mostly found in young children and coinfections with other respirat...

Clinically relevant diagnosis of human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1) is challenging, as the virus is frequently detected in asymptomatic patients, and cofindings with other respiratory viruses are common. The clinical value of current diagnostic methods, such as PCR, is therefore low, and alternative diagnostic strategies are needed. We describe for the first time the use of an antigen detection assay fo...

Human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1) was detected in a young child hospitalized for pneumonia and subsequently in his twin brother and other family members. The mother's nasopharyngeal samples intermittently showed HBoV1 DNA; the grandmother had HBoV1 reinfection. Findings in this family lead to consideration of HBoV virulence, latency, and reactivation.

Viral metagenomic analysis was used to identify a previously uncharacterized parvovirus species, "HBoV2," whose closest phylogenetic relative is the human bocavirus (HBoV). HBoV2 has a genomic organization identical to that of HBoV but has only 78%, 67%, and 80% identity, respectively, with the latter's NS1, NP1, and VP1/VP2 proteins. The study used polymerase chain reaction to detect HBoV2 seq...

Human bocavirus 2 (HBoV2) is a parvovirus that has been recently identified in stool samples from children. Any association between the virus and clinical disease is unclear. A rapid, reliable diagnostic method is necessary to address this issue. In this study, we developed a sensitive and specific HBoV2 quantitative real-time PCR assay that targets the HBoV2 NP-1 gene, based on the TaqMan meth...

Lower respiratory tract infections are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children worldwide. Recent technological advances in the field of molecular biology have allowed virologists to detect many previously undetected viral pathogens. Two of these, human metapneumovirus (hMPV) and human bocavirus (HBoV), are of particular clinical interest to pediatric health care provide...

INTRODUCTION The epidemiology of human bocavirus (HBoV) infections has not been described in Greece, a south-eastern European country. To define the epidemiological profile and the clinical characteristics associated with HBoV infection in a population of children hospitalized with respiratory tract infection. MATERIAL AND METHODS During a one-year period throat swab samples were collected fr...