Waning immunity against respiratory syncytial virus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT: Health jurisdictions have seen a near-disappearance of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over a corresponding period, we report a reduction in RSV antibody levels and neutralization in women and infants one year into the COVID-19 pandemic (February - June 2021) compared to earlier in the pandemic (May - June 2020), in British Columbia (BC), Canada. This supports that humoral immunity against RSV is relatively short-lived and its establishment in infants requires repeated viral exposure. Waned immunity in young children may explain the inter-seasonal resurgence of RSV cases in BC as seen also in other countries.

SUBMITTER: Reicherz F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9129162 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature