Respiratory Syncytial Virus — From Chimps with Colds to Conundrums and Cures

Abstract

Three and a half decades ago Morris et al.1 recovered from a chimpanzee with a cold a virus that had infected the entire colony and its handler. In subsequent years this contagious chimpanzee coryza agent earned a new name, respiratory syncytial virus. It is now recognized as the most important cause of lower respiratory tract disease in young children. Each year 95,000 children in the United States are hospitalized with lower respiratory tract disease due to respiratory syncytial virus, and more than 4500 die. Logarithmically greater numbers of children with respiratory syncytial virus infection are treated as outpatients. Recognition of . . .