Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a contagious infection of the respiratory system that may cause a runny nose, fever, cough, wheezing and trouble breathing. In the first week of the new year alone, positive RSV tests increased to 12.8%, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whereas positive COVID-19 tests rose to 7.1%.¹  

In this episode of the Pharmacy Friends podcast, “RSV: ’Tis the season for prevention,” Scott Roberts, M.D. — associate medical director of infection prevention for Yale New Haven Health and assistant professor at Yale University’s Yale School of Medicine — joins Maryam Tabatabai, PharmD — vice president of clinical information at Prime Therapeutics (Prime) — to share the latest CDC guidelines for RSV vaccinations in a variety of populations. Roberts also details how the country’s health care systems seem to be better equipped to handle cases of RSV this season. 

“This is a very common cold virus,” Roberts said. “So common, in fact, that most everyone gets infected at least once by their second birthday but repeat infections throughout life (are) very common.”  

In the episode, Roberts shares how every year, there are more than 100,000 hospitalizations for adults aged 60 and older, according to the CDC.² RSV is also the cause of death for between 6,000 and 10,000 adults of the same age range every year, also according to the CDC.³ The illness also greatly impacts infants and young children — according to the CDC, between 58,000 and 80,000 children under the age of five are hospitalized each year due to RSV.³ The illness generally peaks between late-December and mid-February.   

“This is the time to raise awareness for RSV,” Tabatabai said. “It’s something here at Prime that we follow in terms of those trends and also access to medications, too, and vaccines.”  

Pharmacy Friends is a podcast dedicated to bringing industry experts to the same table to talk about what is happening in pharmacy today, what is coming and, most importantly, what it means to you. Listen to the full episode “RSV: ’Tis the season for prevention” on PrimeTherapeutics.com/Listen.  

Pharmacy Friends rewind: Last winter, Roberts appeared on the podcast to discuss the new frontier of RSV vaccines. He chatted about access issues, along with RSV impact and risk factors for all populations. Give it a listen.  

References

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Respiratory virus activity levels. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/data/activity-levels.html  
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.-b). RSV in older adults. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/rsv/older-adults/index.html  
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, October 5). Disease severity of respiratory syncytial virus compared with COVID-19 and influenza among hospitalized adults aged ≥60 years - Ivy Network, 20 U.S. states, February 2022–May 2023. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7240a2.htm