ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Human rhinoviruses (HRV) cause the common cold, increased mortality in patients attending elderly care facilities and significant morbidity as well as mortality in the post-transplantation setting. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to determine if there had been a breakdown in infection control practice in a large haemato-oncology centre. Molecular techniques had detected increased numbers of HRV in respiratory samples from patients and staff over a 6-week period. Typing was performed to investigate the possibility of transmission between individuals. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective study having detected HRV RNA in combined nose and throat swab samples that were collected from 13 individuals: 8 patients and 5 staff members, in the haemato-oncology wards of a tertiary referral centre in January and February 2011. The 5'NTR and the VP4/VP2 region were used for HRV typing. RESULTS: All 3 HRV species were detected with 7 HRV-A, 1 HRV-B, 4 HRV-C and 1 untyped. None of the individuals were infected by the same HRV serotype. Three individuals had multiple samples collected: 1 patient had an HRV-B infection over a 4-week period, 1 patient had an HRV-A infection over 3 months and 1 staff member had an HRV-C infection over 1 week, each shedding an unchanged serotype throughout the whole period. CONCLUSION: Nucleotide sequence analysis confirmed that there was no breakdown in infection control measures. No transmission incidents had occurred between patients and/or between staff and patients.
