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Tag: RSV

RSV Vaccine

RSV Vaccine

Many Americans “have reached their limit” with vaccines due to the ongoing Covid pandemic.  But sadly, Covid isn’t the only game in town.  RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) hasn’t gone away and continues to cause illness, hospitalization and death.  It is a single stranded RNA virus that can infect people at all ages.  It is the leading cause of respiratory hospitalizations in infants.  It is also problematic for people over 65, also causing hospitalization and death. 

RSV vaccine research has been ongoing for the past 30 years.  Just recently Pfizer has conducted trials in senior adults where a single dose of vaccine was 100% effective in preventing RSV and was fairly free of side effects.  Research is still ongoing for a vaccine applicable to the infant/child population. 

Zithromax new hero in infant RSV?

Zithromax new hero in infant RSV?

The major cause of bronchiolitis in infants, and not infrequently the major cause of subsequent chronic asthma in these children, has been the topic of recent exciting research at Washington University.

The culprit – RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) – seems to succeed because is elicits such a strong inflammatory response in the airways of its tiny victims that they never fully recover.

In the past efforts have been made to try to reduce this inflammation by the use of both inhaled and systemic steroids; however, neither of these have been of any benefit.

Because the antibiotic Zithromax is known to reduce inflammation in adults with COPD and bronchiecstasis, the Washington University researchers decided to try it in RSV. Their study compared the use of Zithromax to placebo in infants with RSV. The outcome was dramatic. The children who received the Zithromax were more than 50 percent less likely to develop chronic asthma than the control group.

This correlated with the fact that the Zithromax group had much lower levels of inflammation in laboratory tests than the control group.

Q-Tips: RSV, asthma

Q-Tips: RSV, asthma

A high correlation exists between having RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) infection and developing childhood asthma. Research is being done to determine whether latent asthma predisposes to catching RSV, or whether RSV activates latent asthma.