Abstract
Background: Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under five years of age in developing countries with viruses contributing significantly to this problem. The recently identified parvovirus, Human Bocavirus (HBoV), has also been associated with ARI. Objective: To determine the frequency of HBoV in patients with ARI. Materials and Methods: Samples from 125 consenting patients with influenza like illness signs and symptoms were collected. DNA was extracted from these samples using the QIAamp DNA blood mini kit (Qiagen, Germany). Conventional PCR was carried out and the amplicons were examined in 2% agarose gels stained with ethidium bromide. This was followed by sequencing of the HBoV positive samples. Results: Twenty one (16.8%) patients were found to have HBoV infection. Males (n = 61.9%) were mainly infected with HBoV. Local HBoV strains had 98.9% - 100% similarities and were found to cluster together with other strains obtained elsewhere. Conclusion: These findings suggest that HBoV plays a role in respiratory tract infections in children in Kenya just like it has been found elsewhere. It also sheds light on multiple infections associated with HBoV infections in Kenya.
Highlights
Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under five resulting in approximately 1.9 million of deaths worldwide annually [1,2]
The swabs and virus transport medium (VTM) were placed in cool boxes at +4 ̊C for transportation to the Kenya Medical Research Institute’s (KEMRI), Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) laboratory, based at the Center for Virus Research (CVR) in Nairobi, for storage at −80 ̊C until a time when processing was carried out
The Human Bocavirus (HBoV) viruses were detected in 21 (16.8%) samples out of the 125 samples tested in this study
Summary
Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under five resulting in approximately 1.9 million of deaths worldwide annually [1,2]. Viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), parainfluenza viruses (PIV), adenoviruses, rhinoviruses and influenza viruses are recognized as the most common etiologies of ARI. Conclusion: These findings suggest that HBoV plays a role in respiratory tract infections in children in Kenya just like it has been found elsewhere. It sheds light on multiple infections associated with HBoV infections in Kenya
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