Rs virus peaks in winter

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection leads to hospitalization of 2,500 infants a year in the Netherlands. The virus causes influenza-like symptoms. A NIVEL study, on which Tamara Meerhoff defended her thesis at VU University Amsterdam, found that RSV peaks around Christmas when the weather is cold and wet.
 

RSV causes infection of the respiratory tract and can lead to influenza-like illness. Based on clinical symptoms alone RSV and influenza cannot be distinguished. Most children above two years of age have had an RSV-infection. RSV can cause severe disease in particular in premature babies and children below the age of 6 months. RSV infection leads to the yearly hospitalization of 2,500 infants. Tamara Meerhoff (NIVEL researcher) has investigated the relation between RSV infections in the Netherlands and the weather in the preceding 4 weeks. The epidemic started each year around week 44 and peaked around week 52. When the temperature was low and the relative humidity was high, more RSV infections were found. The relative humidity was the most important factor.

Influenza and RSV
RSV confounds the impact of influenza because the two viruses frequently peak around the same time of the year. It is not clear which proportion of patients with influenza-like symptoms had an influenza virus infection and which had an infection with RSV. Tamara Meerhoff has therefore performed research on the surveillance of RSV, assessed which countries in Europe collected information on RSV infections and made recommendations to improve the surveillance. For example, quality control assessments in laboratories could improve surveillance quality.

Weather as predictor
“With timely surveillance, high-risk groups can be better identified and the best time to administer the preventive drug (palivizumab) can be defined,” she explained, “this may decrease the number of children becoming ill and prevent hospital admissions. Information about the weather – temperature and relative humidity – can help as a predictor. With the development of a vaccine in the future, one can investigate the effectiveness of the vaccine with surveillance data. It is recommended to further include other respiratory viruses in the surveillance of respiratory infections to get insight into the causes of different respiratory tract infections. This could be easily integrated into current surveillance systems.”