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

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.