Epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus infection in Washington, D.C.: I. Importance of the virus in different respiratory tract disease syndromes and temporal distribution of infection

Abstract

An epidemic of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) occurred in the Washington, D.C. area during each of 13 respiratory disease seasons between October 1957 and June 1970. There were alternating short (7- to 12-month) and long (13- to 16-month) intervals between peaks of successive epidemics. Each RSV epidemic lasted approximately 5 months and its peak was closely associated in time with a dramatic increase in the number of infants and young children who were hospitalized with lower respiratory tract disease, especially bronchiolitis and pneumonia. RSV epidemics primarily occurred in the late fall, winter or spring. Overall, February and March were the peak months for RSV disease. RSV was recovered from 27% of 1,179 inpatients with bronchiolitis, 9% of 1,547 inpatients with pneumonia, 8% of 6,723 outpatients with acute respiratory disease but only 0.3% of 5,500 control subjects who were free of respiratory disease. Based on virus recovery and/or serum complement-fixation antibody response, RSV infection occurred in 43% of inpatients with bronchiolitis, 25% of inpatients with pneumonia and 23% of all inpatients with acute respiratory tract disease. © 1973, by The Johns Hopkins University.