Severe Adenovirus Pneumonia Followed by Bacterial Septicaemia: Relevance of Co-Infections in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Title:Severe Adenovirus Pneumonia Followed by Bacterial Septicaemia: Relevance of Co-Infections in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Volume: 16 Issue: 1

Author(s): Ilka Engelmann, Valerie Coiteux, Albert Heim, Leonardo Magro, Anny Dewilde, Remy Dulery, Didier Hober and Ibrahim Yakoub-Agha

Affiliation:

Keywords: Adenovirus, bacteremia, Adenovirus pneumonia, bone marrow transplantation, coinfection, hematopoietic, PCR, superinfection, stem cell.

Abstract: Infections are one of the major complications after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). Disseminated infections with human adenoviruses species A, B or C are associated with a lethality of 24 to 36 %. Fatal outcome is usually observed with high viral loads in blood (median peak HAdV DNAemia 10⁸ copies/mL). Here we report two adult patients with disseminated infection with human adenovirus C2 after allo-SCT. Interestingly, both patients developed bacterial septicaemia following the disseminated HAdV infection. Despite lower peak adenoviral loads in blood (<106 copies/mL) than usually reported for fatal cases of HAdV infection and broad spectrum antimicrobial therapy both patients experienced a rapidly fatal outcome. These cases shared the following similarities: disseminated adenovirus infection, adenovirus pneumonia, neurological symptoms and bacterial septicaemia. This suggests that in patients undergoing allo-SCT, viral bacterial co-infections worsen the clinical outcomes.

Cite this article as:

Engelmann Ilka, Coiteux Valerie, Heim Albert, Magro Leonardo, Dewilde Anny, Dulery Remy, Hober Didier and Yakoub-Agha Ibrahim, Severe Adenovirus Pneumonia Followed by Bacterial Septicaemia: Relevance of Co-Infections in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Infectious Disorders - Drug Targets 2016; 16 (1) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1871526516666160407114623