Čes-slov Pediat 2025, 80(Suppl.1):36-40 | DOI: 10.55095/CSPediatrie2025/025

Respiratory syncytial virus infections - clinical importance, epidemiological characteristics and preventive measures

Petr Pazdiora

Ústav epidemiologie, Lékařská fakulta v Plzni, Univerzita Karlova, Plzeň

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major respiratory pathogen that can cause acute respiratory infections in people of all ages. There are two RSV antigenic subgroups, RSV-A and RSV-B, with other subclassifications according to genotypes and lineages. Presented here is a summary

of the clinical symptoms for different age-groups together with their global importance, including international data about the risk of hospitalization or death associated with RSV infection. These data are compared with the data on the hospitalization rates in the Czech Republic from 2017 to 2022. RSV infections mostly occur between November and March in European countries. A similar picture is

also observed in the Czech Republic. RSV vaccines for pregnant women have recently been licensed in the United States and Europe. They have protective benefits for pregnant women, but are primarily used through the means of passive immunization during pregnancy to protect infants during the first months of life. Although many countries have started using this successfull protective measure,

interest in the vaccination of pregnant women in the Czech Republic is still very low. Monoclonal antibiodies have been used for many years in the protection of preterm infants. The success of this preventive measure is also observed in the Czech Republic. Other long-term monoclonal anti- bodies have also been approved for the protection of all infants although at present they are approved for

use in the Czech Republic. It is necessary to have better surveillance of respiratory infections associated with RSV for both outpatients and inpatients, combined with the molecular surveillance of different subgroups, genotypes and lineages.

Keywords: RSV, clinical picture, incidence, prevention, children, vaccination, passive immunization, hospitalization, surveillance

Accepted: April 10, 2025; Published: August 1, 2025  Show citation