Clinical characteristics of respiratory viral infection in children during spring/summer: focus on human bocavirus

Purpose: We evaluated the clinical characteristics of respiratory viruses that were frequently found in children during spring/summer, namely, human bocavirus (hBoV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), parainfluenza virus (PIV), and human rhinovirus (hRV). Methods: This study enrolled patients with acute lower respiratory infection in whom respiratory virus reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was performed between March 2013 and August of 2013. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records to collect the patients' data. Results: A total of 96 patients were enrolled and divided into 5 categories: hBoV in 19 patients (19.8%), hMPV in 18 patients (18.8%), PIV in 16 patients (16.7%), hRV in 20 patients (20.8%), and negative result in 23 patients (24.0%). The mean age of the patients was 8.2 +/- 5.9 months (median, 7.5 months; range, 1-24 months), and the male-to-female ratio was 1.1:1. The most common diagnoses were acute bronchiolitis (62.5%) and pneumonia (30.2%). Compared to other patients, those with hBoV were older (12.3 +/- 4.9 months, P=0.001) and more frequently diagnosed with acute bronchiolitis (P=0.005). In addition, they showed higher incidences of tachypnea and rales (P=0.039 and P=0.035, respectively), and were more frequently treated with oxygen and systemic steroids (P=0.044 and P=0.001, respectively) than the other patients. Conclusion: We compared respiratory viruses in children during spring/summer and found that hBoV may have more severe clinical manifestations than other viruses.