Human bocavirus in Jordan: prevalence and clinical symptoms in hospitalised paediatric patients and molecular virus characterisation

AL-Rousan HO, Meqdam MM, Alkhateeb A, Al-Shorman A, Qaisy LM, Al-Moqbel MS
Correspondence: Prof Mamdoh M Meqdam, m.harahsha@uoh.edu.sa

ABSTRACT
Introduction This study was aimed at investigating the prevalence of human bocavirus (HBoV) among Jordanian children hospitalised with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) as well as the clinical feature associated with HBoV infection, the seasonal distribution of HBoV and the DNA sequencing of HBoV positive samples.
Methods A total of 220 nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected from children below 13 years of age who were hospitalised with LRTI in order to detect the presence of HBoV using real-time polymerase chain reaction assay and direct HBoV sequencing.
Results HBoV was detected in 20 (9.1 percent) patients, whose median age was four (range 0.8–12) months. Children under the age of 12 months were more susceptible to HBoV infection (p-value is 0.016). The main clinical diagnoses of patients infected with HBoV were bronchopneumonia (35 percent) and bronchiolitis (30 percent). Coughing (100 percent), wheezing (82.7 percent) and fever (68.2 percent) were the most prominent symptoms in infected patients. HBoV infections were seasonal; increasing in cooler months, diminishing in the summer and peaking in March (45 percent). Direct DNA sequencing revealed that three out of 20 (15 percent) specimens were identical to Stockholm 1 and 2 isolates, and single base pair substitution (A to T) at codon 92 was found in 17 out of the 20 (85 percent) specimens that were positive for HBoV, resulting in a threonine-to-serine substitution.
Conclusion More attention should be given to diagnosing HBoV in patients with LRTI using molecular techniques.

Keywords: bocavirus, Jordan, real-time PCR, sequencing
Singapore Med J 2011; 52(5): 365-369