Community Respiratory Viral Infections in the Immunocompromised Host: Past, Present, and Future Directions

Abstract

Clinicians first became interested in infectious complications in immunocompromised hosts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Three major medical advances stimulated this interest: successes in renal transplantation, effective chemotherapeutic regimens with curative potential against a few malignant diseases, and the availability of antimicrobial agents with activity against gram-negative bacilli. Bacterial infections were the major cause of mortality in those early years, so much attention centered on management of these infections.[1]Fungal infections were also recognized as a complication in some immunocompromised hosts, such as those with acute leukemia. Most of these infections occurred in leukemia patients who were not responding to chemotherapy, and progress in this area was thwarted by difficulties in diagnosis and limited therapeutic options.