Rhinovirus infections in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients with pneumonia. Clin Infect Dis

Little is known about the impact of human rhinovirus (HRV) and coronavirus infections in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. We tested bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples obtained from HSCT recipients with acute pulmonary infiltrates for HRV ( ) and coronavirus ( ) by reverse-transcrip-np 122 np 46 tase polymerase chain reaction. HRV RNA was detected in 6 (8%) of 77 patients, and coronavirus RNA was detected in 0 of 46 of BAL samples from HSCT recipients. The fatality rate in HRV-infected patients was high (83%), but all patients had significant coinfections, and the overall mortality rate was not different from that of patients who were negative for HRV in BAL samples. These results suggest that HRV may be a cause of lower respiratory tract infections in HSCT recipients and that its detection in BAL samples is associated with frequent copathogens. Whether the poor prognosis is due to HRV or the copathogen is not clear. Human rhinovirus (HRV) and coronavirus are the agents most commonly associated with the common cold and are generally considered to replicate princi-pally within the upper respiratory tract (URT) [1]. Most patients with common colds present with a self-limited syndrome characterized by nasal obstruction, coryza