Clinical correlation of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus load measured by digital PCR

Hijano, Diego R.; Brazelton de Cardenas, Jessica; Maron, Gabriela; Garner, Cherilyn D.; Ferrolino, Jose A.; Dallas, Ronald H.; Gu, Zhengming; Hayden, Randall T.

Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) developed in 13 (30.95%) patients: 7 (53.85%) had influenza B and 6 (46.16%) had RSV infections. Only 11 (26.9%) patients required oxygen during admission: 3 had influenza B and 8 had RSV infection. Further, 5 patients, 2 with influenza B and 3 with RSV infection, were admitted to the ICU. Initial viral load was not significantly higher in these patient subgroups when compared to those that did not have clinical complications (Table 2) . Two patients that died in relation to RSV infection had an ALC of 0, had developed LRTI and were in the ICU at the time of death. Univariate and multivariate analyses including age, initial viral load, and ALC as covariates did not reveal significant associations with clinical complications (Table 3 ). In addition, initial viral load and initial ALC were not significantly associated when considering all these complications together (S2 Fig) .