Detection of Respiratory Syncytial Virus or Rhinovirus Weeks After Hospitalization for Bronchiolitis and the Risk of Recurrent Wheezing.

Background: In severe bronchiolitis, it is unclear if delayed clearance or sequential infection of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or rhinovirus (RV) is associated with recurrent wheezing.

Methods: In a 17-center severe bronchiolitis cohort, we tested nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) upon hospitalization and 3 weeks later (clearance swab) for respiratory viruses using PCR. The same RSV subtype or RV genotype in NPA and clearance swab defined delayed clearance (DC); a new RSV subtype or RV genotype at clearance defined sequential infection (SI). Recurrent wheezing by age 3 years was defined per national asthma guidelines.

Results: Among 673 infants, RSV DC and RV DC were not associated with recurrent wheezing, and RSV SI was rare. The 128 infants with RV SI (19%) had nonsignificantly higher risk of recurrent wheezing (hazard ratio [HR], 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], .95-1.80; P = .10) versus infants without RV SI. Among infants with RV at hospitalization, those with RV SI had a higher risk of recurrent wheezing compared to children without RV SI (HR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.22-5.06; P = .01).

Conclusions: Among infants with severe bronchiolitis, those with RV at hospitalization followed by a new RV infection had the highest risk of recurrent wheezing.