Parainfluenza virus type 3 outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

Parainfluenza virus (PIV) is a respiratory pathogen in young children and is second only to the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) as a cause of lower respiratory tract infection. PIV type 3 (PIV3) is the most severe. Herein we describe an outbreak of PIV3 in three infants in a neonatal intensive care unit. They were diagnosed on virus culture from pharyngeal swabs. We prevented the spread of the virus using standard infection control procedures and isolation of the symptomatic infants. One infant had severe chronic lung disease and was complicated with recurrent wheezing for a long time. Because RSV and PIV have many structural, pathogenic, epidemiologic, and clinical similarities, we speculate that PIV infection causes recurrent wheezing, as observed with RSV infection. Therefore, physicians must consider recurrent wheezing at the time of treatment of PIV infection early in life.

Viral and Atypical Bacterial Respiratory Infections in a University Teaching Hospital

“…Patients in this age group are not able to move, and they are always in the same hospital room or pediatric intensive care unit. Nosocomial infections due to a variety of microorganisms affects 0-1 age group (38)(39)(40). Hence, palivizumab has an important role in cases of an RSV infection for the prophylaxis of other patients in the same unit.…”

An Outbreak of Human Parainfluenza Virus 3 (Phylogenetic Subcluster C5) Infection among Adults at a Residential Care Facility for the Disabled in Croatia, 2018

“…HPIV3 is an important causative agent of ARI that can be complicated with pneumonia, especially in immunocompromised and elderly individuals. Outbreaks caused by HPIV3 have been most frequently described in neonatal units [11][12][13] and inpatient units with hematology/oncology patients [14][15][16] but also among elderly individuals residing in long-term care facilities [17][18][19].…”

“…Outbreaks of HPIV in health-care settings have been primarily described in neonatal units [11][12][13] and hematology/oncology wards [14][15][16]. Moreover, HPIV3 has been found to account for 90% of the nosocomial infections in bone marrow transplant units during peak viral seasons [3,[17][18][19].…”

Use of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay for the early detection of an outbreak of human parainfluenza virus type 3 infection in a nursery school during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Approximately 7% of all hospitalisations for fever and/or respiratory symptoms in children under 5 years are attributable to PIVs [ 2 ]. PIV type 3 (PIV-3) is the commonest of the four serotypes and outbreaks have been reported in neonatal intensive care units, haematological units (including stem cell transplantation units) and oncology wards [ 1 , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] ]. To date no report has described an outbreak of PIV-3 infection in a nursery school.…”