Respiratory syncytial virus in young children.

摘要

Respiratory-tract infections remain the foremost cause of death in young children and are a major obstacle to achievement of Millennium Development Goal 4-to reduce under-5 mortality by two-thirds by 2015. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of acute lower respiratory-tract infections and admissions to hospital worldwide. It is the only agent of the three major organisms that causes death from respiratory-tract infections-RSV, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae-for which no vaccine is available.2-3 RSV has been prioritised for control and vaccine development by global and national health organisations for more than 20 years. Successful immunisation against RSV was predicted, in 1994, to be achieved within 10 years.