Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Accept all cookies Reject all non-essential cookies

Understanding RSV, a major cause of respiratory illness in infants.

General Parents and Carers Public Engagement Research

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is one of the most common reasons for young infants to be admitted to hospital, and globally is second only to malaria as a cause of death in infants between 1 and 12 months of age. In the UK it mostly occurs from October to February, causing a wave of infections that stretch the capacity of children’s wards to their limits.

At the Oxford Vaccine Group we are undertaking a number of projects that try to better understand the burden of RSV disease, and looking at several approaches to vaccine prevention.

This report by BBC South today looks at the impact that an RSV infection could have on an otherwise healthy infant, and a study being conducted by the Oxford Vaccine Group and OSPREA that looks to reduce infant RSV infections by maternal immunisation.

Similar stories

Typhoid vaccine trial confirms sustained protection for older children

A single dose of typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) offers safe, effective protection against typhoid two years after vaccination in all children, and sustained protection for older children at three to five years post immunisation, according to a report by researchers at the Oxford Vaccine Group and icddr,b. But it also shows a decline in protection at the later timepoints among children vaccinated at younger ages.

Ground-breaking research revealed in new video

Oxford scientists launch first-in-human vaccine trial for deadly Marburg virus

Professor Teresa Lambe OBE elected to the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences

More babies could die if rates of vaccination against whooping cough don’t increase

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society