Metapneumovirus Clinical Course and Outcome in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in A Tertiary Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Background: Infection is an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially in the respiratory system. Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) belongs to the paramyxovirus family of viruses, and can cause a simple upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) or severe lower respiratory tract infection LRTI which needs intensive care. Methods: This is a retrospective, descriptive review of the electronic medical record, for a five-year period between January 2017 until December 2021 which was done for all children aged between 0–14 years old, who were admitted to a tertiary PICU in King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a HMPV infection, which was laboratory-confirmed by polymerase chain reaction on specimens obtained via nasopharyngeal swab. Results: 41 patients included in the study period. The age ranged between 3 months to 14 years. The majority of cases 31 [76%] were admitted between November and March. A total of 35(85.4%) children required respiratory support, 7 [17.1%] patients needed vasopressors, 14 [34.1%] patients received blood transfusions and 2 [4.9%] patients needed renal replacement therapy. Conclusion: The majority of HMPV cases admitted to PICU were between November to March and had a previous admission to PICU due to other co morbidities. Viral co-infection was present in 21.9% of subjects. We found that the majority of the patients needed respiratory support. One quarter of the patients had acute kidney injury initially, and most of them had improved hemodynamics. However two patients did need renal replacement therapy.