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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 2007, p. 3218-3223, Vol. 45, No. 10
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02140-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Seroepidemiology of Human Bocavirus in Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan

Rika Endo,¹ Nobuhisa Ishiguro,^1* Hideaki Kikuta,¹ Shinobu Teramoto,¹ Reza Shirkoohi,¹ Xiaoming Ma,¹ Takashi Ebihara,² Hiroaki Ishiko,³ and Tadashi Ariga¹

Department of Pediatrics,¹ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo,² Advanced Medicine Research Department, Mitsubishi Chemical Medience Corporation, Tokyo, Japan³

Received 17 October 2006/ Returned for modification 27 December 2006/ Accepted 1 August 2007

A new human virus, provisionally named human bocavirus (HBoV), was discovered by Swedish researchers in 2005. A new immunofluorescence assay using Trichoplusia ni insect cells infected with a recombinant baculovirus expressing the VP1 protein of HBoV was developed, and the levels of immunoglobulin G antibody to the VP1 protein of HBoV in serum samples were measured. The overall seroprevalence rate of antibodies against the VP1 protein of HBoV in a Japanese population aged from 0 months to 41 years was 71.1% (145 of 204). The seropositive rate was lowest in the age group of 6 to 8 months and gradually increased with age. All of the children had been exposed to HBoV by the age of 6 years. A rise in titers of antibody against the VP1 protein of HBoV during the convalescent phase was observed for four patients with lower respiratory tract infections, and HBoV DNA was detected in nasopharyngeal swab and serum samples from all four patients. These results suggest that HBoV is a ubiquitous virus acquired early in life and that HBoV might play a role in the course of lower respiratory tract infections.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Pediatrics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, N-15, W-7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan. Phone: 81-11-706-5954. Fax: 81-11-706-7898. E-mail: nishigur{at}med.hokudai.ac.jp

Published ahead of print on 15 August 2007.

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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 2007, p. 3218-3223, Vol. 45, No. 10
0095-1137/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.02140-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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