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Isolation measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in transplant units may decrease respiratory infection rates and improve non-relapse mortality

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 60, pages 1289–1291 (2025)Cite this article

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Infectious complications cause significant morbidity and mortality during early post-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) period. After blood-borne infections, the respiratory tract is one of the main sites implicated during the procedure [1].

The incidence of viral respiratory tract infections (vRTI) in HSCT recipients varies between 4% in earlier reports using antigen detection and culture, and 20–40%, using polymerase chain reaction [2]. vRTI during the pre-engraftment period is at higher risk of unfavorable outcome [3], and is associated with lower survival at day 100 and longer hospital stay [4, 5]. Therefore, HSCT units are designed for infection prevention (single rooms, air filters, positive pressure) and hygiene. During the COVID-19 pandemic, supplementary isolation measures were taken in the HSCT units worldwide. We hypothesized that these measures might have not only prevented SARS-CoV-2 infections, but also transmission of other, non-SARS-CoV-2 common respiratory pathogens, with a potential effect on non-relapse mortality (NRM) during this period. We therefore initiated a national, retrospective, multi-center cohort study of all patients who underwent allogeneic HSCT during this period (group-2) and compared it to a historical cohort in the pre-SARS-CoV-2 period (group-1).

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: D. Neofytos, Y. Chalandon.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Hematology, Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland

    S. Noetzlin, A-C. Mamez, F. Giannotti, S. Morin, F. Simonetta, S. Masouridi-Levrat & Y. Chalandon

  2. Division of Hematology, Universitätsspital Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    M. Bader & J. Passweg

  3. Division of Hematology, Universitätsspital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    A. Bankova & D. Schneidawind

  4. Division of Infectious Diseases, Hôpitaux universitaires de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland

    D. Neofytos

Authors
  1. S. Noetzlin
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  2. M. Bader
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  3. A. Bankova
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  4. D. Schneidawind
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  5. J. Passweg
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  6. A-C. Mamez
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  7. F. Giannotti
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  8. S. Morin
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  9. F. Simonetta
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  10. S. Masouridi-Levrat
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  11. D. Neofytos
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  12. Y. Chalandon
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Contributions

SN conceived and designed the study, managed the project, collected the data, analyzed and interpreted the data, wrote the manuscript, edited and submitted the manuscript. MB treated the patients and provided the data, collected the data, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. AB treated the patients and provided the data, collected the data, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. DS treated the patients and provided the data, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. JP treated the patients and provided the data, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. ACM treated the patients and provided the data, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. FG treated the patients and provided the data, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. SM treated the patients and provided the data, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. FS treated the patients and provided the data, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. SML treated the patients and provided the data, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. DN conceived and designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, analyzed and interpreted the data, supervised the research, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. YC conceived and designed the study, analyzed and interpreted the data, supervised the research, read, edited, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to S. Noetzlin or Y. Chalandon.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. The protocol of this study has been approved by the Ethics committee of Geneva (Commission cantonale d'éthique de la recherche, CCER), with consultation of competent ethics committee of Basel (Ethikkommission Nordwest- und Zentralschweiz, EKNZ) and Zurich (Kantonale Ethikkommission Zürich) as well, with the registration number 2022-00325. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Noetzlin, S., Bader, M., Bankova, A. et al. Isolation measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in transplant units may decrease respiratory infection rates and improve non-relapse mortality. Bone Marrow Transplant 60, 1289–1291 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-025-02643-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-025-02643-w

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