title: Basic epidemiology and immunopathology of RSV in children.
abstract: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most important cause of lower respiratory tract infection in infants and young children. Around 20 000 RSV-infected infants require hospitalization in the UK during each yearly epidemic, which is about 3% of the birth cohort. Most children are infected by 2 years of age. Risk factors for severe disease include young infants, prematurity, chronic lung and cardiac conditions or immunodeficiency. Humoral immunity is incomplete and short-lived, yet reinfections cause less severe disease. RSV infects infants despite the presence of specific neutralizing antibodies. RSV infection can be linked to the development of individual wheezing episodes. A competent cellular immune system is necessary to reduce disease severity. RSV infection provokes an RSV-specific T-lymphocyte response with the release of cytokines. There is a delicate balance between the protective and disease-enhancing effects of the host's immune response to RSV infection.
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Infectious Diseases Unit, St. George's Hospital, Blackshaw Road, London, SW17 0QT, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Handforth
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Friedland
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharland
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015995:Prevalence; D018357:Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000635:transmission; D018113:Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D012307:Risk Factors