Progress in the Prevention and Treatment of RSV Infection

Abstract

At long last, gratifying progress is evident on many fronts in combating respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. RSV was discovered in 1956 as an agent causing coryza in chimpanzees.1 Its clinical effects became evident shortly thereafter through a strong epidemiologic association of RSV infection with bronchiolitis and pneumonia in young infants.2 In the almost 60 years since the virus was identified, the highlights of RSV research have been relatively few, in spite of dedicated groups working in this field. The reasons for this include the difficulty of working with RSV in the laboratory; the confinement of RSV replication in humans . . .