Bocavirus Infection (cont.)

Because bocavirus is a newly detected virus, many basic studies are still being planned or are ongoing; consequently, conclusions about how the virus is spread are based on suppositions that are supported by some scientific findings but not yet proved by scientific tests. Since the virus can be detected in high numbers in the respiratory tract and in respiratory secretions of some hospitalized patients, investigators suggest that bocavirus is mainly spread to other humans by respiratory secretions. However, it can also be found in stools (diarrhea) and in blood, so these may be alternative ways for the virus to spread. Unfortunately, to date, there are no animal or viral cell culture systems to investigate bocavirus strains. It is clear, however, that from the few epidemiological studies done that bocavirus can be found worldwide in about 1.5%-19% of the population, usually in sick children.

Most investigators agree that bocavirus "infection" is a diagnosis by association as the virus has not yet proven to be definitively responsible for a disease state. There are no commercially available tests for any bocavirus strains. Researchers, however, use a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect virus in nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) and samples of blood and diarrhea. These PCR tests detect the genetic material of the viruses, but the PCR tests are not widely available. Many researchers use the terms "detected bocavirus" or "associated with" instead of "definitively diagnosed with bocavirus infection" when they discuss the patients with symptoms described above. However stated, many investigators who work with these ill children clearly suspect bocavirus is playing some role in the disease process.

Source: MedicineNet.com
http://www.medicinenet.com/bocavirus_infection/article.htm