Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

It is more than half a century ago that Robert Chanock and co-workers recovered a cytopathogenic agent from lung secretions of young infants with lower respiratory tract disease that was similar to an agent that had been identified in an outbreak of infection resembling the common cold in chimpanzees [1, 2]. Because of its characteristic cytopathologic findings in tissue culture where it forms syncytia in epithelial cells, the virus was named respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) [1]. From serological studies, it was observed that almost all children have been infected by RSV by the age of two years [3]. Epidemiological research carried out since its discovery has designated RSV as the most important causative agent of viral lower respiratory tract disease [4]. Approximately 100,000 infants are admitted annually with RSV-induced bronchiolitis in the United States, and the number of hospitalizations is increasing [5]. Because of this, RSV-associated disease imposes a major burden on health care resources [6]. More recently, RSV is increasingly being recognized as an important pathogen causing severe lower respiratory tract disease in elderly and immunocompromised patients [7].