Health experts in China have claimed yesterday to detect human bocavirus (HboV) infections in children living in Hunan Province, located in central China.
Stating that this is the first confirmed case of HboV in the country, Duan Zhaojun, an associate researcher with the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, that 6 of the 72 samples of phlegm taken from children who were around the ages of 12 months or younger have tested positive. He also explained that the tests were taken since last October.Zhaojun further stated that HboV is generally likely to cause infections in the respiratory systems of the infants. HboV is a parvovirus that is considered to be pathogenic to humans. It was explained that many respiratory viruses like HboV have been identified over the recent years, but its association to diseases of the respiratory tract is still being studied.
Infants are generally more vulnerable to the virus, with symptoms usually being fever and an infection that mimics pneumonia. It was reported that the national CDC and No.1 People's Hospital of Chenzhou City using DNA technology conducted the tests for the HboV in humans.
The presence of HboV and its infection has been confirmed in many countries like Australia, Canada, Japan and South Africa.
