A diagnostic approach to separate acute human bocavirus 1 respiratory tract infection from long-lasting virus shedding

Human bocavirus 1 (HBoV1) causes mild to life-threatening respiratory tract infections (RTI) in children but may persist in the airways for months. The currently used PCR may thus lead to false diagnoses and irrelevant co-detections. Our aim was to differentiate acute infections from persistent shedding by pretreatment of airway or serum samples with an endonuclease followed by PCR (ePCR). We show that HBoV1 DNA is protected by a capsid in acute phase but not in persistent shedding, and provide proof-of-concept of a novel test that may be applied in routine diagnosis of acute HBoV1 RTI for more accurate results.