Preventing respiratory syncytial virus bronchiolitis in infants

Bronchiolitis caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common lower respiratory tract infection in young children. Around 2% of affected children require hospital admission, many of whom require intensive care. In 2019, an estimated 3.6% of all deaths worldwide in children aged 28 days to 6 months were attributable to RSV, with 97% of these deaths occurring in low and middle income countries.1

The covid-19 pandemic saw much of the world go into some form of lockdown from March 2020, lasting on and off until 2022, which meant children had much less exposure to all respiratory viruses. In the second half of 2022 the seasonal epidemic of RSV in Europe and the US happened early, caused many more children to be admitted to hospital, and, unusually, affected children over the age of 2 years, who had not yet been exposed.2 A surge in the incidence of many different respiratory viral infections in the second half of 2022 may …