Besieging RSV

A team of U.S. and Chilean researchers has reported that a vaccine derived from bacillus Calmette-Guérin could prevent respiratory syncytial virus infection in infants and children.¹ It's unlikely the vaccine would take market share from the lone marketed RSV antibody, Synagis palivizumab, because it would target different pediatric populations.

By the age of two, most children have been infected by RSV at least once, and in most cases the infection is almost indistinguishable from a common cold. But in infants younger than six months, RSV is a leading cause of hospitalization, especially in infants born prematurely, born close to the annual RSV season and/or born with chronic heart or lung disease...