Study aims to understand infection in healthy adults to aid development of RSV medicines, vaccines. A new study will expose healthy adult volunteers to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a virus that causes cold-like symptoms in adults.

What is the most common cause of RSV?

Respiratory syncytial virus enters the body through the eyes, nose or mouth. It spreads easily through the air on infected respiratory droplets. You or your child can become infected if someone with RSV coughs or sneezes near you. The virus also passes to others through direct contact, such as shaking hands.

What went wrong with RSV vaccine?

More specifically, in a series of experiments, the research team discovered that the old RSV vaccine failed to trigger a “signaling” mechanism — called toll-like receptor activation — that helps the immune system recognize a virus and mount a defense against it.

Even in children hospitalized with RSV infection, mortality is less than 1%, and fewer than 500 deaths per year are attributed to RSV in the United States.