Abstract
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common pathogen of the lower respiratory tract in infants. Groups at risk for severe disease include preterm infants, infants with pulmonary disease such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia, infants with congenital heart disease, and infants suffering from immunodeficiency. However, most infants getting severely ill from RSV are otherwise healthy and born at term. The incidence of hospitalisation caused by RSV is increasing, and there is an association between diagnosed RSV infection and subsequent development of wheeze and asthma. No vaccine or causal therapy is available. However, prophylaxis with a humanized monoclonal antibody of murine origin, palivizumab, reduces the risk of hospitalisation in high-risk infants, but the treatment is expensive. The most important prophylaxis methods at the present time are therefore hygienic measures with the purpose of preventing nosocomial infection in hospitals.
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