Вocavirus infection in children with acute gastroenteritis
The review presents the data on the most important causative factors of acute gastroenteritis in children and on relatively new pathogens, such as bocavirus (HBoV), considering modern potential for verification of viral disorders. Human HBoV, belonging to Parvoviridae family, has been isolated from nasopharyngeal discharge in children with acute respiratory viral infection in 2005. Later on it was registered as a respiratory pathogen. Despite symptoms of an acute respiratory disease, HBoVinfected patients frequently present with acute gastroenteritis. In various regions of the world, fecal HBoV DNA has been found in children with acute intestinal infection by means of the polymerase chain reaction and subsequent sequencing. Molecular genetic studies showed the presence of 4 genetically different viral types. HBoV genotype 1 is more frequently found in nasopharyngeal smears from children with acute respiratory viral infection, whereas HBoV genotypes 2, 3, and 4 are isolated from feces in those with acute gastroenteritis. If HBoV is an intestinal pathogen, remain an unresolved issue. There is a  high rate of HBoV co-infection (up to 60% and more) with other intestinal viruses in children with acute gastroenteritis. High fecal DNA titers found in the studies in children with acute gastroenteritis have shown that HBoV is not only present in the bowel, but also is replicating there. The importance of studies on characteristics of molecular evolution of bocavirus is undoubted, while there are gaps in knowledge on its life cycle, mechanisms of genome replication; there is neither cultivation technique for this virus, nor animal models for disorders it may cause. The assay for anti-HBoV detection in human serum has been studied only in acute respiratory disease; high rates of HBoV seropositive patients and high antibody titers have been found in children correlating with a high viral load. It could be relevant to study prevalence and genetic variance of HВoV associated with acute gastroenteritis in various territories of the Russian Federation, because the international database GenBank does not have any genomic sequences of bocavirus isolated found in Russia. Investigation of molecular epidemiological and clinical characteristics of bocaviral infection in children with acute intestinal infection seems promising.