Assessement of Viral Shedding Duration After a Respiratory Tract Infection in Oncology and Hematology Patients

The development of multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests has greatly improved the diagnosis of respiratory tract viral infections by increasing its sensitivity and the diversity of viral species detected. However, there are few data concerning respiratory tract viral infections amongst hematology and oncology patients. Especially, the duration of viral shedding following an infection has not been much studied whereas it is a source of inter-individual transmission between immunocompromised patients who are more likely to develop severe disease. Studies conducted so far concerned mainly hematology patients. They have shown that viral carriage could last up to one month and a half in some patients with hematological malignancy. The aim of this study is to determine the duration of the viral shedding in patients from hematology and oncology units after a respiratory tract viral infection for the ten main viruses involved in order to better manage these infections and to better prevent their transmission.