Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (Feb 2013)

A survey strategy for human respiratory syncytial virus detection among haematopoietic stem cell transplant patients: epidemiological and methodological analysis

  • Luciana Peniche Moreira,
  • Aripuanã Sakurada Aranha Watanabe,
  • Emerson Carraro,
  • Ellen Ricci Monteiro da Silva,
  • Sandra Baltazar Guatura,
  • Celso Granato,
  • Nancy Junqueira Bellei

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 108, no. 1
pp. 119 – 122

Abstract

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Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) causes severe infections among children and immunocompromised patients. We compared HRSV infections among Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant program (HSCT) patients and children using direct immunofluorescence (DFA), point-of-care RSV Bio Easy® and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Overall, 102 samples from HSCT patients and 128 from children obtained positivity rate of 18.6% and 14.1% respectively. PCR sensitivity was highest mainly on samples collected after five days of symptoms onset. A combination of both DFA and reverse transcriptase-PCR methods for HSCT high-risk patients is the best diagnostic flow for HRSV diagnosis among these patients.

Keywords