Hospital-Acquired Respiratory Viral Infections: Incidence, Morbidity, and Mortality in Pediatric and Adult Patients

BACKGROUND Hospital-acquired respiratory viral infections can result in morbidity and mortality of hospitalized patients. This study was undertaken to better understand the magnitude of the problem of nosocomial respiratory viral infections in adult and pediatric patients. METHODS This was a retrospective study at a tertiary care adult and pediatric teaching hospital. Study patients met a priori criteria for definite or possible nosocomial respiratory viral infection. RESULTS From April 1, 2015 to April 1, 2016, we identified 40 nosocomial respiratory viral infections in 38 patients involving 14 definite and 3 possible cases in our adult hospital and 18 definite and 5 possible cases in our pediatric hospital. The incidence was 5 cases/10 000 admissions and 44 cases/10 000 admissions to our adult and pediatric hospitals, respectively. Only 6.8% of cases were due to influenza. Although 63% of cases occurred during the fall and winter, such infections were identified throughout the year. Five (13%) nosocomial respiratory viral infections occurred in 2 adult and 3 pediatric patients who died during the hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS Nosocomial respiratory viral infections are an underappreciated cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitalized adult and pediatric patients. The incidence was nearly 10-fold higher in our pediatric hospital. We estimate there are approximately 18 955 pediatric and adult cases of nosocomial respiratory viral infections in US acute care hospitals each year.