Respiratory Tract Infections Due to Human Metapneumovirus in Immunocompromised Children

Chu, Helen Y.; Renaud, Christian; Ficken, Elle; Thomson, Blythe; Kuypers, Jane; Englund, Janet A.

Six patients had respiratory samples collected at multiple time points. The median number of samples collected was 7 (range, 2-44 samples), and the median duration of follow-up was 37 days (range, 4-562 days). Types of samples were primarily nasal wash samples, but also included two BAL, one sinus biopsy, and one lung biopsy sample in Patient 1, as well as 1 BAL sample in Patient 2. Median initial viral load was estimated as 6.96 log 10 copies/mL (range, 2.75-7.22 log 10 copies/mL). The viral load data for all 6 patients are illustrated in Figures 2A (Patient 1) and 2B (Patients 2-6). In the 3 patients who died, the median time between initial and final sample was 7 days (range, 2-20 days), and the median change in viral load was 1.31 log 10 copies/mL (range, −6.23 to 0.36 log 10 copies/mL). For the 3 patients who survived, the median time to viral clearance was 43 days (range, 4-511 days).