Respiratory Viral Infections in HIV-Infected Patients

Although respiratory viruses most commonly cause infections in the upper respiratory tract, they also cause pneumonia; illness can be particularly severe in immunocompromised hosts. How frequently are such viruses found in the lungs of HIV-infected patients who present with signs and symptoms of lower respiratory tract infection? To find out, investigators used reverse-transcriptase PCR assays to detect 17 different respiratory viruses in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples from HIV-infected patients with suspected opportunistic infections.

Between November 2003 and November 2006, 59 BAL specimens were obtained from 55 HIV-infected patients at three hospitals in Switzerland. The patients had advanced HIV infection (median CD4 count, 55 cell…