RSV and influenza – what’s old is new
Allen C Cheng 1
1Monash Infectious Diseases, Monash Health and School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, 246 Clayton Road, Clayton VIC 3168 (allen.cheng@monash.edu)
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the epidemiology of other respiratory viruses due to public health and social distancing measures, as well as quarantine measures.
After two years with almost absent influenza transmission, influenza returned in 2022. In Australia, the last two seasons have begun earlier than in most previous years. However, changes in primary care utilisation and testing have affected surveillance data. While vaccine coverage has been variably affected in different age groups, available data suggest that vaccine effectiveness has been stable. Additionally, there have been unusual patterns of influenza transmission elsewhere in the world, notably the disappearance of the Yamagata lineage of influenza B. This has implications for future influenza vaccines.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) predominantly causes clinically significant infections in young children, but in recent years there has been increasing recognition of a significant burden of disease in older adults. There has been increasing interest in RSV with the development of monoclonal antibodies and vaccines targeted at different population groups.