- NEW DELHI — A
single dose of the long-acting antibody nirsevimab developed to prevent
respiratory syncytial virus infections in infants can halve hospitalisations
for bronchiolitis, according to a study.
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- Bronchiolitis is an acute viral infection that affects the
respiratory system of children under one year of age mainly in the first six
months of life with greater frequency between November and March.
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- It is often associated with respiratory syncytial virus
infection (in about 3 out of 4 cases) that can cause respiratory failure,
especially in children under one year of age - among babies under six months
old.
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-
- In a first, the real-world study analysed the concrete
impact of nirsevimab by comparing European countries – Spain, the UK, and Italy
-- with different health policies.
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- The data, collected from 68 Catalan hospitals in Spain and
five hospitals in the UK and Italy, showed that in children under 6 months in
Catalonia, hospitalisations for bronchiolitis have almost halved compared to
the average of previous seasons.
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- Emergency room admissions for the same age group were also
significantly reduced. In contrast, no significant reduction emerged in the
other European centres where nirsevimab was not administered.
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- The study, published in the journal Lancet Regional Health –
Europe, "represents an important step in assessing the real effectiveness
of new preventive strategies against RSV, comparing for the first time
countries with different approaches to its implementation,” said Danilo
Buonsenso, a researcher in General and Specialist Paediatrics at the Catholic
University, US.
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- Further, the study showed that nirsevimab's effect was less
pronounced in older children (between six and 23 months), suggesting that the
greatest efficacy is concentrated in the first few months of life.
