Respiratory syncytial virus in adults with comorbidities: an update on epidemiology, vaccines, and treatments

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is widely known as a frequent cause of respiratory distress among adults, particularly in older people. Recent years have witnessed several improvements in respiratory virus detection, leading to more questions about therapeutic management strategies.

Objectives: This narrative review focuses on the RSV burden in older people and adults with risk factors and provides an update on the main recent developments regarding managing this infection.

Sources: A comprehensive PubMed search was conducted till August 2023 to identify studies on RSV among the adult population. We included observational studies, RCTs on vaccines, and different therapies.

Content: This review should give clinicians an overview of RSV epidemiology and burden among older people and adults with pre-existing risk factors, the most recent randomized clinical trials on RSV vaccines, and the existing data on the different therapeutics existing and under development.

Implications: There is a growing body of evidence on RSV burden in adults. The landscape of preventive and curative treatments is quickly evolving.