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Observational Study
. 2021 Apr;53(4):274-280.
doi: 10.1080/23744235.2021.1871642. Epub 2021 Jan 21.

Characteristics of respiratory virus infections in autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients, a prospective study, Bern, Switzerland, 2015-2017

Fabienne Moret  1 , Jonas Marschall  1 , Andrew Atkinson  1 , Sarah Farag  2 , Stefan Zimmerli  1 , Thomas Pabst  2 , Rami Sommerstein  1
Affiliations
Observational Study

Characteristics of respiratory virus infections in autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation patients, a prospective study, Bern, Switzerland, 2015-2017

Fabienne Moret et al. Infect Dis (Lond). 2021 Apr.

Abstract

Background: The epidemiology of respiratory virus infections (RVI) in patients undergoing autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-SCT) is not well described.

Methods: Our goal was to describe the epidemiology of respiratory virus infections (RVI) in patients undergoing autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-SCT) in a single tertiary centre observation study during two respiratory virus seasons (2015-2017). All symptomatic auto-SCT patients were tested for RVI by nasopharyngeal swab.

Results: 156 transplantation episodes were included, 69% were male and, the median age was 57 years. We detected 19 RVIs in 156 transplantation episodes (12%). The median time to RVI after hospitalization was 13 days [IQR 7-13] and 15/19 (79%) had a possible nosocomial origin (occurrence ≥ 5 days after admission). The nosocomial infections included 5/15 (33%) 'severe' RVIs (3 influenza viruses, 1 parainfluenza virus, and 1 adenovirus) as well as 10/15 (66%) non-severe virus infections (including human rhinovirus and human coronavirus).

Conclusion: In approximately 10% of auto-SCT transplantation episodes, an RVI with likely nosocomial origin was detected and included 'severe viruses' such as influenza. Our study suggests that infection prevention measures in auto-SCT patients can be improved.

Abbreviations: AdV: adenovirus; ALL: acute lymphatic leukaemia; AML: acute myeloid leukaemia; auto-SCT: autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation; hCoV: human coronavirus; HD: Hodgkin's disease; hMPV: human metapneumovirus; HRV: human rhinovirus; HSCT: allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation; IQR: interquartile range; GCT: germ cell tumour; MM: multiple myeloma; NHL: non-Hodgkin lymphoma; PIV: parainfluenza virus; RSV: respiratory syncytial virus.

Keywords: Respiratory virus infection; autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation; nosocomial infection.

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