Global circulation of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is shaped by human air travel with travellers hosting new strains fuelling transmission across borders, an international The Kids Research Institute Australia study found.
With RSV the leading cause of acute lower respiratory infections and second leading cause of infant deaths worldwide, understanding global transmission is critical to optimise prevention strategies.
The global study, published in Nature Communications, examined human movement patterns with surveillance data from 17 countries – over three RSV seasons – generated from the INFORM-RSV study and the World Health Organization’s Global RSV Surveillance Program.
Researchers examined viral genome sequences of samples to better understand transmission of site-specific RSV variants, finding human air travel was the greatest predictor of RSV spread.
Co-author Professor Peter Richmond, from the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases at The Kids Research Institute Australia, Head of Paediatrics at The University of Western Australia and Head of Immunology at Perth Children’s Hospital, said with human air travel expected to surge in the coming years, knowledge of variant transmission was critical to feed into immunisation and vaccine programs.
“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, over 4 billion passengers travelled by airplane with figures expected to double by 2036,” Professor Richmond said.
“The movement of people has largely facilitated the passage of new RSV variants which we now know are introduced every season, presenting issues for babies and children who have developing immunity.
“What this study has shown is that understanding the patterns of RSV variants means we have critical data that can help to inform RSV prevention strategies – like the recently announced Cook Government-funded RSV Immunisation Program rolling out in Western Australia this month.”
Professor Richmond also said the study highlighted potential for global RSV surveillance, where critical data is lacking when compared to surveillance of COVID-19 and the flu.
As Head of the Vaccine Trials Group at The Kids Research Institute Australia, Professor Richmond was part of international clinical trials which tested an antibody treatment Nirsevimab.
Nirsevimab was found to reduce RSV-related hospitalisations by 80 per cent and is now being rolled-out across the state to tackle the virus in babies who are most likely to get severe disease.
Professor Richmond is also leading the way testing a maternal RSV vaccine, which is hoped to be available in Australia the future with the vaccine already cleared for use in Europe.
The article The genomic evolutionary dynamics and global circulation patterns of respiratory syncytial virus is available here.