Each year, a virus that mimics the common cold claims the lives of roughly 110,000 children under five — not through mystery, but through the particular vulnerability of infant lungs. RSV has long outpaced medicine's ability to stop it, leaving families with little more than vigilance and hope. Now, for the first time, two new interventions — a maternal vaccine and a single-dose monoclonal antibody — offer parents something medicine rarely delivers cleanly: the chance to prevent harm before it begins.
RSV poses serious threat to infants; new vaccines offer protection
RSV causes approximately 110,000 deaths annually in children under five years old and is a leading cause of hospitalization requiring mechanical ventilation in severe cases.