[Outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus at a neonatal intensive care unit in Mexico City].

RSV can be spread in hospital wards, being thus responsible for increased morbidity and mortality among infected patients. We describe an RSV outbreak in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). METHODS. As soon as the first RSV cases were detected in the NICU, every patient, as well as the personnel taking care of them, were tested; nasal washes for viral isolation, and nasopharyngeal swabs for viral antigen detection by immunofluorescence, were collected. RESULTS. Twelve patients were hospitalized. RSV was detected in eight, coinfection was observed in three of them. RSV was also detected in three adults. We describe the clinical findings among the RSV infected patients, and the infection control measures that we followed to stop the RSV spread. CONCLUSIONS. Viruses can be responsible for nosocomial infections, being thus mandatory to establish the diagnosis, treatment and infection control measures. In our NICU, the RSV infected patients had mild to moderate disease, there were no deaths attributable to RSV infection. We discuss infection control measures.