There have been a few prospective and comprehensive surveillance studies on the respiratory viral infections (RVIs) among patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). A 2-year prospective cohort surveillance study of symptomatic and asymptomatic RVIs was performed in hospitalized HSCT patients. Oropharyngeal (OP) swab samples were serially collected each week from 1 week before and up to 100 days after HSCT and were tested for virus isolation with cell culture-based viral isolation (CC-based VI) and a multiplex PCR (MPCR). A total of 2,747 OP swab samples were collected from 250 HSCT patients (268 HSCT procedures). Among these patients, 79 had RVIs (CC-based VI, n = 63; MPCR, n = 17). The parainfluenza virus type 3 (PIV3) accounted for 71% (57/80) of the cases of RVIs. Some PIV3 infections were asymptomatic and involved a longer virus-shedding period. The PIV3 was often cultured from samples taken before the onset of a respiratory disease. The PIV3 infections were attributed to the transmission of nosocomial infections. PIV3 infections before engraftment will more likely result in the development of lower respiratory tract infections and worse outcomes. A real-time monitoring of respiratory viral infections in the HSCT ward among patients with or without respiratory symptoms is required for the prevention of nosocomial RVIs, especially of PIV3 infections.
Keywords: hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; human parainfluenza virus type 3; immunocompromised patients; respiratory virus infection.