An outbreak of human Rhinovirus-A21 infection in a psychiatric ward during COVID-19 pandemic

Lung-Chiung Chen; Chih-Chien Chiu; Fu-Mei Chang; Pei-Yuan Wu; Shu-Li Yang; Chung-Guei Huang; Yhu-Chering Huang

doi:10.1016/j.jmii.2022.07.007

An outbreak of human Rhinovirus-A21 infection in a psychiatric ward during COVID-19 pandemic

J Microbiol Immunol Infect. 2022 Dec;55(6 Pt 2):1326-1329. doi: 10.1016/j.jmii.2022.07.007. Epub 2022 Aug 11.

Authors

Lung-Chiung Chen¹, Chih-Chien Chiu², Fu-Mei Chang³, Pei-Yuan Wu⁴, Shu-Li Yang⁵, Chung-Guei Huang⁵, Yhu-Chering Huang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, 325, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Internal Medicine, Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, 325, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
² Infection Control Office, Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, 325, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Internal Medicine, Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, 325, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
³ Infection Control Office, Taoyuan Armed Forces General Hospital, 325, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁴ Centers for Disease Control, Northern Regional Center, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Laboratory Medicine, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, 333, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁶ School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, 333, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, 333, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: ychuang@cgmh.org.tw.

Abstract

A cluster of acute respiratory illnesses involving 12 inpatients and 3 healthcare workers occurred in a psychiatric ward. Eight of them were identified as HRV-A21. Fever and cough were the most common symptoms. The study also provides further evidence of the impact of HRV on lower respiratory tract illness.

Keywords: COVID-19; Outbreak; Psychiatric ward; Rhinovirus-A21.

MeSH terms

COVID-19* / epidemiology
Disease Outbreaks
Humans
Infant
Pandemics
Picornaviridae Infections* / epidemiology
Psychiatric Department, Hospital
Respiratory Tract Infections* / epidemiology
Rhinovirus