Understanding RSV: Severe disease and the long term consequences

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  REspiratory Syncytial virus Consortium in EUrope (RESCEU):Presumed risk factors and biomarkers for RSV-related severe disease and related sequelae

• IRAS ID

  231136

• Contact name

  Andrew Pollard

• Contact email

  andrew.pollard@paediatrics.ox.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Oxford

• Duration of Study in the UK

  4 years, 3 months, 7 days

• Research summary

  Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes severe disease in the very young, elderly and in high risk groups. Worldwide in 2005 there were an estimated 34 million cases of acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRI), 3.4 million ALRI hospitalisations and 55,000 to 199,000 deaths associated with RSV in children <5 years old. RSV infection in childhood is associated with subsequent wheezing and asthma. These long-term consequences pose a substantial additional burden on healthcare systems. There is a need to assemble clinical resources to identify why some children are more likely to suffer from severe RSV disease, identify which children will go on to suffer from long term problems and identify any measureable biological signs to indicate which children will be affected.

  Group 1: Infants under 12 months with an RSV infection will have swabs taken from the back of the nose and blood, urine and stool samples collected at the onset of infection and again 6 – 8 weeks later, in convalescence. An online diary will be completed for 2 weeks during illness to record the participant and parent health. The participant and their family will be followed up annually by questionnaire, for a maximum of 3 years. When the study data are analysed, the infants will be subdivided into 4 further groups; infants requiring hospitalisation, infants not requiring hospitalisation, infants with co-morbidity, requiring hospitalisation and infants with a co-morbidity not requiring hospitalisation.
  Group 2: Well, healthy infants, under 12 months with no acute respiratory infection will have swabs taken from the back of the nose and blood, urine and stool samples taken on enrolment. They will receive a follow up contact 7 days after enrolment to assess if they have developed any illness. The participant and their family will be followed up annually by questionnaire, for a maximum of 3 years.

• REC name

  South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  17/SC/0522

• Date of REC Opinion

  20 Oct 2017

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion