Respiratory Syncytial Virus I... Health Article

Definition

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a virus that can cause severe lower respiratory infections in children under the age of two, and milder upper respiratory infections in older children and adults. RSV infection is also called bronchiolitis, because it is marked in young children by inflammation of the bronchioles. Bronchioles are the narrow airways that lead from the bronchi to the tiny air sacs (alveoli) in the lungs. The result is wheezing, difficulty breathing, and sometimes fatal respiratory failure.

Description

RSV infection is caused by a group of viruses found worldwide. There are two different subtypes of the virus with numerous different strains. Taken together, these viruses account for a significant number of deaths in infants.

RSV infection is primarily a disease of winter or early spring, with waves of illness sweeping through a community. The rate of RSV infection is estimated to be 11.4 cases in every 100 children during their first year of life. In the United States, RSV infection occurs most frequently in infants between the ages of two months and six months.

RSV infection shows distinctly different symptoms, depending on the age of the infected person. In children under two, the virus causes a serious lower respiratory infection in the lungs. In older children and healthy adults, it causes a mild upper respiratory infection often mistaken for the common cold.

Although anyone can get this disease, infants suffer the most serious symptoms and complications. Breast feeding seems to provide partial protection from the virus. Conditions in infants that increase their risk of infection include:

• premature birth
• lower socio-economic environment
• congenital heart disease
• chronic lung diseases, such as cystic fibrosis
• immune system deficiencies, including HIV infection
• immunosuppressive therapy given to organ transplant patients

Many older children and adults get RSV infection, but the symptoms are so similar to the common cold that the true cause is undiagnosed. People of any age with weakened immune systems, either from such diseases as AIDS or leukemia, or as the result of chemotherapy or corticosteroid medications, are more at risk for serious RSV infections. So are people with chronic lung disease.