This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Respiratory syncytial virus

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a RNA virus of Paramyxoviridae family within the Pneumovirus genus (1).

  • it is an important pathogen causing respiratory tract illness
    • in children younger than 2 years - lower respiratory tract infections (e.g., bronchiolitis, pneumonia)
      • can be severe in infants who are at increased risk of acute lower respiratory tract infection
      • RSV is best known for causing bronchiolitis in infants (1)
    • in older children and young adults - upper respiratory tract infections
    • a severe lower respiratory tract disease with pneumonitis may develop in the elderly, in institutionalised adults, and in immunocompromised individuals. (2)

Previous infection may only confer partial immunity to RSV and hence individuals may be infected repeatedly with the same or different strains of RSV (1).

Reference:

 

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2024 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.