Recurrent Plastic Bronchitis in a Child with 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) and Influenza B Virus Infection

Abstract

Plastic bronchitis is an uncommon disorder characterized by the formation of bronchial casts. It is associated with congenital heart disease or pulmonary disease. In children with underlying conditions such as allergy or asthma, influenza can cause severe plastic bronchitis resulting in respiratory failure. A review of the literature showed nine cases of plastic bronchitis with H1N1 including this case. We report a case of a child with recurrent plastic bronchitis with eosinophilic cast associated with influenza B infection, who had recovered from plastic bronchitis associated with an influenza A (H1N1) virus infection 5 months previously. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of recurrent plastic bronchitis related to influenza viral infection. If patients with influenza virus infection manifest acute respiratory distress with total lung atelectasis, clinicians should consider plastic bronchitis and early bronchoscopy should be intervened. In addition, management for underlying disease may prevent from recurrence of plastic bronchitis.

Plastic bronchitis arising from solitary influenza B infection: A report of two cases in children

“…Children with influenza A infection can frequently develop acute pulmonary complications and sequelae such as pneumonia and acute respiratory failure when acutely infected. PB has been previously reported in one child who was co-infected with influenza A and B as well as in a child with underlying congenital heart disease and was also infected with influenza B [4,10]. To our knowledge, no reports of solitary influenza B infection in a healthy child who developed PB has ever been reported.…”

“…Influenza A-associated PB has been described in a number of case studies that are listed in Table 1. Only two previous cases of influenza B-associated PB are known to us, one in the setting of congenital heart disease and the other with concurrent influenza A infection [4,10]. Influenza B is generally considered to be a less common and virulent viral strain than influenza A, and many of the cases of influenza A-associated PB were due to the novel H1N1 strain in 2009 in countries such as Mexico, Japan, and China.…”

“…Influenza A has recently been identified for its association with PB, especially during the recent 2009 outbreak of the H1N1 influenza A pandemic in Asia and Mexico [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Children with influenza A infection can frequently develop acute pulmonary complications and sequelae such as pneumonia and acute respiratory failure when acutely infected.…”

Plastic bronchitis: Three cases caused by influenza B virus Yamagata lineage

“…It is a well‐known complication of influenza virus AH1pdm09 infection . Kim et al . hypothesized that AH1pdm09 might induce prolongation of bronchial hyperresponsiveness, resulting in sticky inflammatory plugs that easily obstruct airways.…”

Detection of Human Bocavirus 2 DNA from a Girl with Plastic Bronchitis

“…At least seven cases of plastic bronchitis have been reported to be associated with influenza A (H1N1) 2009 virus infection [3]. On the other hand, there has been no report of plastic bronchitis being associated with influenza B virus infection except for one case that had recurrent plastic bronchitis with influenza A (H1N1) 2009 and influenza B virus infections [4]. HBoV2 was predominantly detected from fecal samples and was thought to be involved in the enteropathogenesis [5].…”