Human bocavirus infections in hospitalized Greek children

Haidopoulou, Katerina; Goutaki, Myrofora; Damianidou, Lambrini; Eboriadou, Maria; Antoniadis, Antonis; Papa, Anna

Common symptoms of viral respiratory tract infection such as fever, cough, rhinorrhoea and pharyngitis were found in the majority of our patients (87.5-100%). Six patients (75%) presented with various degrees of respiratory distress. Those patients had tachypnoea (a respiratory rate of 45-90 breaths/min) and low haemoglobin oxygen saturation levels (SaO 2 ) in the range 90-94%. These children received oxygen supplementation until 1 day before discharge. Wheezing was the most common clinical finding (5 patients) while another 1 child presented with stridor. Hoarseness was noticed in 2 children. Difficulty in feeding was also a common complaint, reported by 5 patients. Other clinical findings included diarrhoea (2 patients, 25%), a symptom previously described in HBoV infections [11, 12] , and otitis media (1 patient, 12.5%). The major clinical and laboratory findings in the 8 patients in whom HBoV was the sole pathogen detected are presented in Table I .