Herpesviridae lung reactivation and infection in patients with severe COVID-19 or influenza virus pneumonia: a comparative study

Annals of Intensive Care

Table 2 Virological findings

Characteristic	COVID-19 patients n = 145	Influenza patients n = 89
HSV lung reactivation	73 (50)	56 (63)
Time from MV start to first HSV detection, days^a,b	13 (10–21)	10 (6–15)
Peak of HSV load in BAL, copies/million cells^c	58,312 (3363–3,144,816)	120,359 (6188–1,629,398)
HSV bronchopneumonitis^d	36 (25)	28 (31)
Time from MV start to HSV bronchopneumonitis, days	15 (10–21)	14 (12–20)
CMV lung reactivation^a	61 (42)	25 (28)
Time from MV to first CMV detection, days^a,b	32 (26–42)	25 (16–39)
Peak of CMV load in BAL, IU/million cells^c	1849 (241–6,460)	770 (293–3383)
Time from MV start to peak of CMV load in lung, days^a	36 (28–49)	28 (16–42)

Results are expressed as n (%) or median (IQR). COVID-19 coronavirus infectious disease 19, HSV herpes simplex virus, BAL bronchoalveolar lavage, CMV cytomegalovirus, MV mechanical ventilation, IU international unit
^ap < 0.05 for between groups comparison
^bCorresponding to the time between onset of mechanical ventilation and first detection of the virus (HSV or CMV) in bronchoalveolar lavage sample
^cCorresponding to the highest virus load in patients with more than one sample
^dDefined as a HSV virus load ≥ 10⁵ copies/million cells in BAL fluid