Rhinovirus most common respiratory infection in pediatric transplant patients

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Rhinovirus was the most commonly detected respiratory infection among pediatric solid organ transplant patients at a California children’s hospital, according to study findings presented at the St. Jude/PIDS Pediatric Transplant ID Symposium.

“Since the introduction of clinically approved PCR-based respiratory viral testing, human rhinovirus has been found to be one of the most frequently isolated viruses in pediatric patients involving both upper and lower airways,” study researcher Dylan Kann, MD, of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Stanford, California, and colleagues wrote. “However, much remains unknown about rhinovirus infections in pediatric solid organ transplant recipients.”

To determine virus epidemiology and at-risk populations, researchers reviewed all rhinovirus infections detected among pediatric solid organ transplant patients within the past 7 years at the hospital.

Of the 1,163 patients evaluated in respiratory PCR query, 45 tested positive for rhinovirus, indicating 19% of respiratory PCR testing was positive since the test was introduced at the hospital in December 2012. Twenty-two percent of PCR-detected rhinovirus infections were coinfections.

Repeat PCR testing indicated three patients experienced shedding for more than 1 month.

“These results suggest that rhinovirus is the most common detectable viral respiratory infection in pediatric solid organ transplants at our institution and that further study of its epidemiology, clinical sequelae, and therapy is indicated,” Kann and researchers concluded.

Reference:

Kann D, et al. Abstract T1506. Presented at: St. Jude/PIDS Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Conference; Feb. 20-21, 2015; Memphis, Tennessee.

Disclosure: Infectious Diseases in Children was unable to confirm financial disclosures at the time of publication.