Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection

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Medical Author:

John Mersch, MD, FAAP

John Mersch, MD, FAAP

Dr. Mersch received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, San Diego, and prior to entering the University Of Southern California School Of Medicine, was a graduate student (attaining PhD candidate status) in Experimental Pathology at USC. He attended internship and residency at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

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Medical Editor:

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP

Mary D. Nettleman, MD, MS, MACP is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at Michigan State University. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt Medical School, and completed her residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at Indiana University.

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• RSV is a highly contagious virus infection that most commonly causes illness during the winter season.
• Most children who develop an RSV infection have mild symptoms of fever, nasal congestion, and nasal discharge.
• High-risk groups are more likely to have a more severe disease process, including wheezing (bronchiolitis in infants) and/or pneumonia. Such high-risk groups include premature infants, those children with a compromised immune system, or those with chronic pulmonary disease or congenital/acquired cardiac disease.
• Supportive care is the mainstay of therapy. For high-risk patients, palivizumab (Synagis) preventative therapy is available.

The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), discovered in 1956, is capable of causing a broad spectrum of illnesses. Older children and adults will commonly experience a "bad cold" lasting one to two weeks. Fever, nasal congestion, and cough are their most common complaints. However, in babies and toddlers, RSV can produce severe pulmonary diseases, including bronchiolitis (inflammation of the terminal airways which produces wheezing) and pneumonia (infection of these terminal airways).