Preliminary study on human metapneumovirus and human bocavirus infection among children in Taiyuan,from 2012 to 2013

Objective To investigate the epidemic and clinical features on human metapneumovims (hMPV) and human bocavirus (HBOV) among pediatric patients with acute respiratory infection (ARI) in Taiyuan.Methods Clinical specimens of a total of 300 pediatric cases with acute respiratory infection were obtained during the period of Nov.2012 to Feb.2013.These patients were inpatients or outpatients who visited the department of pediatric in People' s Hospital Shanxi Province.Reverse transcription (RT) PCR methods were applied to detect hMPV and HBOV.Results Of the 300 clinical specimens,39 were hMPV positive (13％) and 6 were HBOV positive (2％).HMPV and HBOV were main causes of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRTI).The majority of children infected with HMPV were younger than 3 years old.High detection rates were found in children at the age of 1-2 years.Conclusion Our findings suggested that hMPV had been one of the important agents causing ALRTI in pediatric patients in Taiyuan.HBOV infection rates were relatively low. Key words: Metapneumovirus, human ;  Bocavirus human;  Respiratory infection ;  Child, preschool