Human Bocavirus: Lessons Learned to Date

Schildgen, Oliver

It appears likely that HBoV either persists or uses additional or alternative mechanisms of replication, which remains a matter of speculation. An alternative replication model could be a helper virus-dependent initiation of rolling circle replication. In a recent case report (below), we identified herpesvirus 6 co-infection in an HBoVinfected patient. Surprisingly, during cidofovir therapy, HHV-6 viremia decreased, and HBoV was eliminated, even though the patient had an underlying immunodeficiency and could not produce neutralizing antibodies [14] . Considering that herpesviruses are able to initiate rolling circle replication [15] and replication that is characterized by head-to-tail sequences in cis and in trans [16] , and given that another subfamily of parvoviruses, the dependoviruses, replicate exclusively in the presence of helper viruses, such as herpesviruses [17] , this replication model is worth being discussed and investigated further.