Human respiratory syncytial virus
hideHuman respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes respiratory tract infections. It is the major cause of lower respiratory tract infection and hospital visits during infancy and childhood. There is no vaccine, and the only treatment is oxygen.
In temperate climates there is an annual epidemic during the winter months. In tropical climates, infection is most common during the rainy season.
In the United States, 60% of infants are infected during their first RSV season, and nearly all children will have been infected with the virus by 2-3 years of age. Natural infection with RSV does not induce protective immunity, and thus people can be infected multiple times. Sometimes an infant can become symptomatically infected more than once even within a single RSV season. Severe RSV infections have increasingly been found among elderly patients.
RSV is a negative-sense, single-stranded RNA virus of the family Paramyxoviridae, which includes common respiratory viruses such as those causing measles and mumps. RSV is a member of the paramyxovirus subfamily Pneumovirinae. Its name comes from the fact that F proteins on the surface of the virus cause the cell membranes on nearby cells to merge, forming syncytia.
For more information about Human respiratory syncytial virus, read the full article at
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News tagged with respiratory syncytial virus
Microbiologists find defense molecule that senses respiratory viruses
Aug 23, 2009 |
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A cellular molecule that not only can sense two common respiratory viruses but also can direct cells to mount a defense has been identified by microbiologists at The University of Texas Health Science Center ...
Even mildly premature infants have increased risk of a common respiratory tract infection
May 05, 2009 |
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Even mildly premature infants (gestational ages of 33 weeks through 36 weeks) have an increased risk of medically attended respiratory syncytial virus infection, which is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract infection ...
Matrix protein key to fighting viruses
Apr 29, 2009 |
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Researchers from Durham University's Centre for Bioactive Chemistry are developing methods that show how proteins interact with cell membranes when a virus strikes. Using their approach, the team hopes to ...
More children need medical help for RSV than previously known
Feb 04, 2009 |
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More than 2 million children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) are seen in hospitals, emergency rooms and doctors' offices in the United States every year -- many more than doctors know. In fact, only 3 percent of children ...
Common childhood virus packs an increasingly potent punch
Jan 05, 2009 |
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Five-year-old Kate Levschan and her 18-month-old brother, Jacob, have never sat on Santa's lap. Their mother, Marti Levschan, wants to keep it that way.
