Respiratory Tract Infections Due to Human Metapneumovirus in Immunocompromised Children

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

Similar retrospective studies performed in pediatric cancer patients have looked at morbidity and mortality related to other respiratory viruses. Parainfluenza virus was associated with LRTI in 20-36% of patients with a mortality rate of 0-7% in a mixed population of pediatric cancer and transplant patients [14, 15] . Similarly, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been associated with LRTI in 28% and mortality in 8% of a mixed group of pediatric and transplant patients [16] . More recently, pandemic H1N1 and seasonal influenza A were associated with LRTI rates of 20-42% and 4-27% and mortality rates of 10-12% and 2-4%, respectively, despite treatment of the majority of patients with antiviral drugs [17, 18] . An additional study performed in a larger group of patients described a lower rate of LRTI (16%) associated with pandemic H1N1 with only 1 severe case, with no related mortality [19] . Prospective studies of hMPV in adults with hematologic malignancies demonstrated that 9% of respiratory tract infections were attributed to hMPV, and that the majority of these were in HSCT recipients [13] .