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May 2022May 2022

RESCEU’s RSV Global Disease Burden study reveals substantial RSV community morbidity and mortality burden in young children in low- and middle-income countries

RESCEU scientists publish latest global disease burden estimates of RSV in The Lancet revealing substantial RSV community morbidity and mortality burden in young children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Some of the most relevant findings are:

- Globally, 33 million episodes of RSV acute lower respiratory infection (including pneumonia and bronchiolitis) occur annually, with 95% of episodes occurring in LMICs.
- Annually, for every 1,000 young children, 52 episodes of RSV acute lower respiratory infection can be found in LMICs compared to 24 episodes in high-income countries. However, a smaller proportion of young children could reach hospitals for RSV illnesses in LMICs than in high-income countries.
- Globally, RSV is responsible for 101,000 deaths in young children, with more than 99% from LMICs.
- For every one RSV death in hospitals, there are three more RSV deaths in the community.
- Children younger than six months are most prone to RSV related morbidity and mortality, accounting for 20% of RSV acute lower respiratory infection episodes and 46% of RSV deaths in children under five years.

“RSV immunisation programmes targeting protection in infants younger than six months are likely to be impactful, especially in LMICs that have substantial RSV disease burden in the community. Children in LMICs who had limited access to care could only be protected from RSV severe outcomes through the implementation of RSV immunisation programmes.”, says Prof. You Li from Nanjing Medical University, the leading author of paper.

Acces the full publication here.

Read BBC World’s report here

May 2022

RSV Patient Advisory Board publishes paper about patient involvement in RSV Research

RSV is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among young children, and also causes a substantial disease burden among elderly and high-risk adults. Involving patients in scientific research on RSV is of great importance to improve its quality and relevance. The RSV Patient Advisory Board (PAB) has drawn attention for more patient participation in research in a scientific publication in “The Journal of Infectious Diseases”.

The article is written by Nicole Derksen-Lazet (former chair of the PAB) and Corline Parmentier (member of the PAB support team) in collaboration with pediatric infectious diseases specialists dr. Joanne Wildenbeest and prof. dr. Louis Bont. The story of the RSV PAB, which was established in 2013 as a local advisory group in Utrecht (the Netherlands) and officially became part of the governance structure of RESCEU in 2016, demonstrates the additional values, success factors, and barriers to involve patients in scientific research.

Involvement of the PAB in RSV research has resulted in the establishment of an independent and credible advisory group for researchers, and many activities to improve RSV awareness among professionals and the general public. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement: patients and their representatives are increasingly reshaping the research agenda, but medical and scientific experts are still the ones who set it. Patients and their representatives are important stakeholders in research, and their involvement should become the rule instead of the exception – as concluded by the authors.

Read the full article here.

February 2022March 2022

BronchStart study will help predict RSV epidemics

Non-pharmaceutical interventions to slow or eliminate the spread of COVID-19 have had dramatic consequences on the transmission of other respiratory viruses, in particular Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in children. Now, the BronchStart surveillance study funded by RESCEU, will contribute to identify and interpret the impact of delayed bronchiolitis epidemic in the UK and Ireland. The study is being led by UEDIN.

The BronchStart project is a surveillance platform study run by the PERUKI network (Paediatric Emergency Research UK and Ireland) across paediatric emergency departments throughout the UK. PERUKI provides an ability to access a wide network of paediatric emergency medicine doctors (current almost 50 UK sites for BronchStart) who actively support studies and data entry. This capability has enabled BronchStart through PERUKI to commence surveillance activities at speed and low cost.

This is of extremely relevance, as the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions for COVID-19 has disrupted RSV transmission, and with it, our ability to predict timing of RSV epidemics. BronchStart using a RedCAP database to gather live information from emergency departments is now able to deliver information on RSV case frequency and distribution in populations across the UK. Importantly BronchStart can also provide information on age distribution of cases (as lack of seasonality may enhance susceptability for particular age groups) and disease severity. These functions are reported live (through the microreact website) and can alert clinicians to anticipate changes in workload and prepare for out of season RSV surges. To date over 11000 children have been recruited. We are also now engaging with sites through BronchStart to interrogate genomic aspects of RSV spread and severity, adding another layer of information to our understanding of RSV disease.

The PERUKI network is long established. RESCEU funding has enabled us to demonstrate the value of BronchStart and we are actively capitalising on that value to seek funding to continue these activities beyond September.

By Steve Cunningham, Professor Paediatric Respiratory Medicine at University of Edinburgh and Damian Roland, Honorary Professor of Paediatric Emergency Medicine, at Leicester University.

BronchStart study is sponsored by University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.

April 2017November 2017

RESCEU becomes ISARIC member

We are glad to announce the RESCEU membership in the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC). It is a global initiative aiming to ensure that clinical researchers have the open access protocols and data-sharing processes needed to facilitate a rapid response to emerging diseases that may turn into epidemics or pandemics. Please follow this link to learn more about ISARIC.

January 2017November 2017

Kick off meeting

After many months of intensive preparatory work following a competitive call process, the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Consortium in Europe (RESCEU) was launched in January 2017. The RESCEU project aims to develop robust evidence on RSV disease burden and economic impact; create a sustainable Europe-wide multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder community from academia, public health, scientific societies, patient organisations, regulatory agencies and industry; and provide infrastructure to perform future pivotal trials for RSV vaccines and therapeutics. RESCEU represents a major research effort of 29 million euro, and receives funding from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking, supported by the European Commission and EFPIA.

The launch meeting was held in Sitges (Spain) and it was a memorable occasion to have about 100 participants from key stakeholder constituencies (RSV researchers ranging from epidemiologists and clinicians to more basic scientists; Public Health Agencies like ECDC, US CDC and WHO; esteemed members of our International Scientific Advisory Group, Patient Advisory Board and the Ethics Advisory Committee; agencies like EMA and PATH; funding agencies like BMGF; and our IMI project officer) all participate wholeheartedly during the two-day meeting. The discussions were of very high quality and the enthusiasm was infectious. The Consortium is fully committed to sustain this positivity and make sure that we can achieve the objectives of RESCEU.

January 2017November 2017

€29m research grant to assess risk posed by deadly lung infections

Experts have received €29 million (£24m) to investigate serious lung infections that particularly affect babies and older people.

Diseases caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are estimated to affect more than 30 million children under five each year throughout the world.

The virus also affects older people and those with weakened immune systems, including cancer patients and people with chronic lung diseases such as emphysema.

There are no specific treatments for RSV and there is no vaccine. Current therapies are focused on alleviating the symptoms of the infection.

Led by Professor Harish Nair at the University of Edinburgh, the RSV Consortium in Europe (RESCEU) – aims to make a fundamental difference to the understanding and management of RSV.

International teams will work to assess the full scale of the problem in Europe, which is currently unknown.

Investigators from 18 universities, public health institutes and pharmaceutical companies will gather robust statistics on the number of RSV cases across Europe each year.

Researchers will also assess the economic impact of the disease and the burden it places on healthcare systems.

Armed with this information, the group will put together best practice guidelines to improve the way RSV-associated disease is monitored across Europe and to advise future vaccination programmes.

The consortium aims to ensure that future decisions on RSV prevention and treatment policies can be based on good evidence and made without undue delay.

The group also aims to set up a framework to conduct Europe-wide trials of new medicines and vaccines to improve treatment – and even prevention – of the disease.

They will collect and analyse patient samples to identify biological markers associated with severe RSV infections. Such markers could help to improve diagnosis and assessment of the severity of disease. They could also aid the development of treatments and vaccines.

Funding has been received from the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No 116019. This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA.

RESCEU was born out of an existing research collaboration called the Respiratory Syncytial Virus Network (ReSViNET) which aims to improve understanding of this virus, and to develop safe and effective preventive treatment and prevention strategies.

RSV infection causes breathing difficulties and wheezing and can lead to severe respiratory illnesses such as bronchiolitis or pneumonia.

The virus can be the most common single reason for children being admitted to hospital over the winter months. In older adults, the infections may cause as many severe illnesses, hospitalisations and deaths as influenza.

Project co-ordinator Professor Harish Nair, of the University of Edinburgh’s Usher Institute, said: “We are at an opportune time to step up efforts to prevent RSV infection in children and elderly populations. With more than 65 candidate vaccines in clinical development, it is likely that an RSV vaccine will be available in the next five to seven years. Moreover, a range of treatments for RSV are also being developed. Our findings will provide better evidence to understand how these interventions should be best introduced, not only in Europe but also the rest of the world.”

The collaboration includes the Universities of Edinburgh, Oxford and Imperial College London from the UK. Also taking part are teams from the University Medical Center Utrecht, University Medical Center Groningen and the National Institute for Public Health and The Environment in the Netherlands, the University of Antwerp in Belgium, the Galician Health Service SERGAS in Spain, the Hospital District of Southwest Finland, Statens Serum Institut in Denmark and the Paediatric European Network for Treatment of AIDS Foundation.

Six companies are participating in the project – AstraZeneca, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, Sanofi Pasteur, Janssen Pharmaceutica and Novavax – together with Synapse Research Management Partners.

A further 43 research and public health institutions, patient societies and clinical societies from Europe and rest of the world are also affiliated to the project.

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