Human rhinovirus detection in the lower respiratory tract of hematopoietic cell transplant recipients: association with mortality

Seo, Sachiko; Waghmare, Alpana; Scott, Emily M; Xie, Hu; Kuypers, Jane M; Hackman, Robert C.; Campbell, Angela P.; Choi, Su-Mi; Leisenring, Wendy M.; Jerome, Keith R.; Englund, Janet A.; Boeckh, Michael

In a recent large prospective study, detection of HRV in the upper respiratory tract of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) candidates was associated with poor outcome after HCT. 4 Another study also suggested poor outcomes in immunocompromised patients with HRV infection, comparable to those infected with 2009 H1N1 influenza. 10 As for lower respiratory tract infection (LRI), recent studies of community-acquired pneumonia in immunocompetent patients identified HRV as the most common pathogen using molecular diagnostic techniques. 1, 11 HRV was also a key pathogen in immunocompromised patients originally diagnosed with idiopathic pneumonia syndrome, and its detection in the lower respiratory tract was associated with a particularly poor outcome. 12 Overall, these data suggest that HRV may be a clinically significant pathogen with the potential to cause serious pulmonary disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of detection of HRV RNA in the BAL fluid in HCT recipients.