Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1986. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Respiratory syncytial viral infection in children with compromised immune function.
N Engl J Med. 1986 Jul 10;315(2):77-81. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/86257297 Hall CB; Powell KR; MacDonald NE; Gala CL; Menegus ME; Suffin SC; Cohen HJ
Abstract:
For 10 winters, 608 children five years old or younger who were hospitalized with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection were prospectively studied to evaluate the relation between their immune status and the severity of their infection. Forty-seven had been immunocompromised by chemotherapy, steroid therapy, or a primary immunodeficiency disorder. Among the immunocompromised children, those receiving chemotherapy for cancer and those with immunodeficiency disease had more severe RSV disease, with pneumonia occurring at all ages, and a higher mortality rate. Children receiving long-term steroid therapy did not appear to have more severe clinical manifestations than normal children. Viral shedding, however, was significantly greater and more prolonged in the children receiving steroid therapy, and particularly in those receiving chemotherapy or with an immunodeficiency disease. Giant-cell pneumonia was documented in one child with leukemia. Over half the immunocompromised children acquired the RSV infection nosocomially. These findings indicate that children receiving chemotherapy for cancer and those with immunodeficiency disease are at risk for complicated or fatal infections from RSV and should be considered for antiviral and other therapies as they become available. Efforts should also be made to protect compromised children if hospitalization cannot be avoided.
Keywords: Adrenal Cortex Hormones/THERAPEUTIC USE Child, Preschool Human *Immune Tolerance Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes/COMPLICATIONS Infant Leukemia/DRUG THERAPY Neoplasms/DRUG THERAPY Paramyxovirus Infections/MICROBIOLOGY/PREVENTION & CONTROL/ *PHYSIOPATHOLOGY Pneumonia/COMPLICATIONS Prospective Studies Respiratory Syncytial Viruses JOURNAL ARTICLE
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Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1986. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
