RSV is one of the most common, and confounding, viruses that cause infections in humans. There’s no approved vaccine and current treatment options focus on managing symptoms, much like a cold.
For most people who contract RSV, that’s enough; they generally suffer only cold-like symptoms. But the virus can be deadly for infants or the elderly. RSV leads to 58,000 hospitalizations of children younger than 5 every year in the U.S. and 177,000 hospitalizations among those 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus kills some 14,000 elderly Americans annually.
