Jon CohenHalf a century of research has failed to thwart respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes severe disease in the lower airways and lungs of some 3 million newborn children and kills more than 100,000 worldwide each year.
But now, two different approaches have had success. One gives a monoclonal antibody against RSV to the babies, whereas the other vaccinates their mothers against the virus, presumably leading to antibodies that protect their children.Although more studies are needed before either product comes to market, the results, both published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, have given a boost to a beleaguered field. “These two studies provide encouraging data that prevention of this common infection in.