The natural history of influenza infection in the severely immunocompromised vs nonimmunocompromised hosts

Matthew J. Memoli, Rani Athota, Susan Reed, Lindsay Czajkowski, Tyler Bristol, Kathleen Proudfoot, Rachel Hagey, Jocelyn Voell, Charles Fiorentino, Angela Ademposi, Shmuel Shoham, Jeffery K. Taubenberger

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

119 Scopus citations

Abstract

Introduction. Medical advances have led to an increase in the world's population of immunosuppressed individuals. The most severely immunocompromised patients are those who have been diagnosed with a hematologic malignancy, solid organ tumor, or who have other conditions that require immunosuppressive therapies and/or solid organ or stem cell transplants.Materials and methods. Medically attended patients with a positive clinical diagnosis of influenza were recruited prospectively and clinically evaluated. Nasal washes and serum were collected. Evaluation of viral shedding, nasal and serum cytokines, clinical illness, and clinical outcomes were performed to compare severely immunocompromised individuals to nonimmunocompromised individuals with influenza infection.Results. Immunocompromised patients with influenza had more severe disease/complications, longer viral shedding, and more antiviral resistance while demonstrating less clinical symptoms and signs on clinical assessment.Conclusions. Immunocompromised patients are at risk for more severe or complicated influenza induced disease, which may be difficult to prevent with existing vaccines and antiviral treatments. Specific issues to consider when managing a severely immunocompromised host include the development of asymptomatic shedding, multi-drug resistance during prolonged antiviral therapy, and the potential high risk of pulmonary involvement.Clinical trials registration, ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00533182.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)214-224
Number of pages11
JournalClinical Infectious Diseases
Volume58
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 15 2014

Keywords

  • Immunocompromised host
  • Influenza
  • Influenza A
  • Stem cell transplant

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology (medical)
  • Infectious Diseases

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