Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)
What is RSV?
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is an infectious disease of the airways and lungs. RSV infection often causes symptoms similar to a cold, including cough, sore throat, sneezing and runny or blocked nose. It can also make you become wheezy or short of breath and lead to pneumonia and other life-threatening conditions. There is no specific treatment, and most infections will get better by themselves. Every year thousands of older adults need hospital care for RSV, and some of them will die. RSV can be more severe in people with medical conditions such as heart or lung disease or a weakened immune system. RSV infection is common in young children but is most serious for small babies and for older people.
Pregnant Women
The maternal vaccine is a major step forward for child health. It offers 70% protection against severe RSV lower respiratory tract infection over the most vulnerable first 6 months of life. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health has called it “game changing”.
Older Adults
For older adults the clinical impact is less obvious, RSV can present as exacerbations of long-term conditions as well as acute respiratory infection syndromes, but it is no less serious. The latest estimates suggest around 80,000 GP attendances, around 9,000 admissions and over 2,000 deaths a year in the over 75s. Vaccine protection for older adults looks even more promising at around 80%. Monitoring is now being done internationally to see how for many years a single jab keeps older adults protected.
So, it is fantastic to be introducing life-saving RSV vaccines to the routine immunisation schedule:
– in every pregnancy in week 28 or soon after, to protect newborn babies
– at the age of 75 years, with a catch-up programme for current 75 to 79 year olds (age on 1 September 2024)