Analysis of a potential cluster of rhinovirus infections in staff on two haemato-oncology wards

T. Cutino-Moguel, I. Lauinger, S. Srivastava, M. Zuckerman*, C. Y. W. Tong, Stephen Devereux

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: Human rhinoviruses (HRV) cause the common cold, increased mortality in patients attending elderly care facilities and significant morbidity as well as mortality in the post-transplantation setting.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine if there had been a breakdown in infection control practice in a large haemato-oncology centre. Molecular techniques had detected increased numbers of HRV in respiratory samples from patients and staff over a 6-week period. Typing was performed to investigate the possibility of transmission between individuals.

Study design: This was a retrospective study having detected HRV RNA in combined nose and throat swab samples that were collected from 13 individuals: 8 patients and 5 staff members, in the haematooncology wards of a tertiary referral centre in January and February 2011. The 5'NTR and the VP4/VP2 region were used for HRV typing.

Results: All 3 HRV species were detected with 7 HRV-A, 1 HRV-B, 4 HRV-C and 1 untyped. None of the individuals were infected by the same HRV serotype. Three individuals had multiple samples collected: 1 patient had an HRV-B infection over a 4-week period, 1 patient had an HRV-A infection over 3 months and 1 staff member had an HRV-C infection over 1 week, each shedding an unchanged serotype throughout the whole period.

Conclusion: Nucleotide sequence analysis confirmed that there was no breakdown in infection control measures. No transmission incidents had occurred between patients and/or between staff and patients. Crown Copyright (c) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)57-59
Number of pages3
JournalJOURNAL OF CLINICAL VIROLOGY
Volume60
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2014

Keywords

  • Rhinovirus
  • Haemato-oncology
  • Cluster
  • RECIPIENTS

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