Human bocavirus
| Human bocavirus | |
|---|---|
| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group II (ssDNA) |
| Order: | Unassigned |
| Family: | Parvoviridae |
| Subfamily: | Parvovirinae |
| Genus: | Bocaparvovirus |
| Species | |
Human bocavirus (HBoV) is a parvovirus that has been suggested to cause human disease. It is a probable cause of lower respiratory tract infections and it has been linked to gastroenteritis, although the role of this emerging infectious disease in human disease has not been firmly established. The term human bocavirus can refer to any bocaparvovirus strain in the Primate bocaparvovirus 1 and Primate bocaparvovirus 2 species that infects humans.
Allander and colleagues at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, first cloned this new member of the family of Parvoviridae in 2005 from pooled nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA, collection of aspirated fluid from the back of the nasal cavity). They used a novel technique called molecular virus screening, based on random cloning and bioinformatical analysis. This technique has led to the discovery of new viruses such as polyomavirus KI (Karolinska Institute) and WU (Washington University), which are closely related to each other and have been isolated from respiratory secretions.
Several groups of scientists have since then found that HBoV is the fourth most common virus in respiratory samples, behind rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus and adenoviruses.
The name bocavirus is derived from bovine and canine, referring to the two known hosts for other members of this genus; the bovine parvovirus which infects cattle, and the minute virus of canines which infects dogs. Parvoviruses (Latin: small viruses) have a 5 kilobase long single-stranded DNA, and they use some of their host's replication proteins to copy their DNA.
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