Pulmonary and extrapulmonary complications of human rhinovirus infection in critically ill patients

- HRV was detected in 7.5% of archived NPA specimens from ICU patients.
- Pulmonary and extrapulmonary complications of HRV were common in ICU patients.
- There was a high rate of seizure among patients with HRV infection

BackgroundHuman rhinovirus (HRV) is frequently detected in patients with respiratory tract infection. However, the full clinical spectrum of HRV infection in critically ill patients is not well characterized.ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical and virological characteristics of critically ill patients with HRV infection.Study designHRV-specific reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed on nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) specimens from 294 adult patients who required admission into the intensive care unit (ICU). Clinical characteristics were analyzed. HRV genotyping using the 5′UTR-VP4-VP2 region was performed.ResultsHRV was detected in NPA specimens of 22 patients (7.5%) by RT-PCR. Dyspnea was the most common presenting symptom (16/22; 72.7%), but seizure also occurred in 5 (22.7%) patients. Exacerbation of underlying disease occurred in 12 (54.5%) patients. Four (18.2%) patients died, and HRV was considered to play a role as the cause of death in 3 patients. Thirteen (59.1%) patients had pneumonia, and the most common radiological finding was consolidation (6/13; 46.2%). Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most common co-pathogen among patients with pneumonia. Among the 9 patients without pneumonia, 3 patients had exacerbation of underlying lung diseases, 3 patients had acute pulmonary edema, 2 patients with diabetes mellitus had acute complications from poor glycemic control, and 1 patient had status epilepticus. HRV-A was the most common species (64.3%), but there was no clear relationship between HRV species and clinical presentation.ConclusionBoth pulmonary and extrapulmonary complications of HRV were common in critically ill patients.