Abstract
BACKGROUND: Morbidity and mortality related to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is not known. PROCEDURE: We combined data from three Children's Oncology Group AML studies and determined the prevalence of RSV infection and RSV-related mortality in children treated for de novo AML. RESULTS: We found that the prevalence of RSV infection ranged from 0% to 1% in induction and between 0.3 and 2.2% in consolidation. Four children died from RSV resulting in RSV-specific mortality of 0.2% among all children. However, the risk of RSV-related mortality among RSV infection episodes was high (4/40, 10%). CONCLUSIONS: RSV infections and deaths are rare in pediatric AML.