ABSTRACT
Respiratory syncytial virus is a leading cause of bronchiolitis in young children with a worldwide significant morbidity. Most children have been infected by the age of two but immunity to RSV is incomplete and transient, which is typical of mucosal immunity, allowing repeated infections throughout life. Such infections usually cause mild afebrile upper respiratory tract illness. However, the elderly and those with impaired cellular immunity are at risk of pneumonia. Infection occurs in annual winter outbreaks in temperate climates. Diagnosis relies on the detection of virus RNA by PCR in combined nose and throat swabs. There is no antiviral drug or vaccine, but a humanized monoclonal antibody directed against the virus attachment protein is available for at risk infants.
