Approaching the End of the Era of Uncontrolled Respiratory Syncytial Virus Disease

Much of the world’s attention is focused on disease caused by a novel coronavirus. But in the shadow of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, progress is being made on control of a second RNA respiratory virus that accounts for a considerably greater burden of childhood illness than SARS-CoV-2. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) lower respiratory tract disease in the United States and other industrialized countries results in hospital admission for approximately 2% of all children in the first 12 months of life and more deaths than either influenza or SARS-CoV-2 in this age group [1] (Table 1). Currently, no licensed preventive vaccine or broadly recommended monoclonal antibody or antiviral agent is available for prevention or treatment of RSV infections, although numerous products are in development and several are in late-phase clinical trials.