New RSV Vaccine available for the over 75s

Posted on September 12th, 2024

What is RSV?

• Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the Orthopneumovirus genus of the Pneumoviridae family
• RSV is a common cause of respiratory tract infections
• it usually causes a mild self-limiting respiratory infection in adults and children but can be severe in infants and older adults who are at increased risk of acute lower respiratory tract infection
• RSV is best known for causing bronchiolitis in infants. RSV disease may be under-recognised in older adults.
• previous infection by RSV may only confer partial immunity to RSV and so individuals may be infected repeatedly with the same or different strains of RSV
• Older adults may become vulnerable to RSV due to age-related decline of parts of their immune system (T-cell immunosenescence)