Abstract
In infants hospitalized for bronchiolitis, cohorting of RSV-positive patients separately from RSV-negative patients is a commonly applied procedure to prevent nosocomially acquired cross-infections. We previously described that cross-infections did not occur when patients shared a room on the first day of admission, irrespective of the causative viral agent.
We determined the incidence (and clinical severity) of cross- infections in patients admitted with bronchiolitis, when patients with different causative viral agents share a room during the entire admission course.
We performed a prospective cohort of all infants < 2 years old, hospitalized with bronchiolitis during the winter season 2012-3. Patients shared a 2-4bed hospital room during the entire admission, irrespective of virological diagnosis. Standard contact hygienic measures were applied in all patients (gowns, gloves and hand-washing).
We included 65 patients in the period December 2012 to March 2013 (94% RSV-positive), 56 of whom (85%) shared a room with another bronchiolitis patient, 18 (28%) of which with a different causative virus. On admission, 10 patients (15%) were co-infected with another virus. During admission, 8 (12%) patients were cross-infected with a different virus. Of these cross-infected patients, one patient had shared a room with a virus identified in one of the roommates.
We found no significant differences in disease severity between patients infected with single or multiple viruses, nor between RSV-positive versus RSV-negative patients.
Conclusion: Co-infection amongst patients with bronchiolitis is common. Roomsharing does not seem to play a meaningful role in the transmission of viruses between patients with bronchiolitis sharing one room.
- © 2014 ERS