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Infants with cystic fibrosis have higher frequency, longer duration of human rhinovirus

Infants with cystic fibrosis have a higher risk for developing human rhinovirus that lasts for longer periods than healthy infants, according to recent research.

“This study has shown that [human rhinovirus (HRV)] is a common virus which is more frequently detected and persists for longer periods in young children with [cystic fibrosis (CF)] compared to matched healthy controls, without differences in distribution and diversity of the several HRV subtypes,” Jasper S. Dijkema, from the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital in Utrecht, Netherlands, and colleagues wrote. “The results suggest that children with CF have the same exposure to HRV compared to healthy children, but have an increased risk of acquisition. The more frequent and prolonged detection might indicate increased viral replication of HRV or an impaired innate immune defense or both in children with CF.”

Dijkema and colleagues evaluated 20 patients aged between 0 years to 7 years with cystic fibrosis and compared them with age-matched control patients without cystic fibrosis during a winter period of 6 months, according to the abstract. Patients received nasopharyngeal swabs and respiratory symptoms were scored twice per week. Researchers acquired an additional nasopharyngeal sample if a patient displayed symptoms.

The researchers found that 40.8% of 645 samples contained human rhinovirus, with significantly more samples in the cystic fibrosis group (mean 8.1 ± 2.3 samples) than the control group (mean 5.7 ± 2.9 samples) containing human rhinovirus (P < .01), according to the abstract. Although human rhinovirus had a similar phylogenetic diversity among different human rhinovirus subtypes in both groups, Dijkema and colleagues noted that cystic fibrosis patients tended to have prolonged detection of more than 2 weeks within their group compared with the control group (P < .01).

“[P]atient-related factors could cause differences in susceptibility,” Dijkema and colleagues wrote. “Our findings of more frequent and prolonged HRV detection might suggest a higher viral replication and/or an impaired innate immune defense in patients with CF, which is in line with earlier data.” – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.