Estimates suggest that approximately 70% of infants under 1 year of age are infected with this virus, while 100% of 2-year-old children have been infected at least GSK126 research buy once with hRSV.[6, 7] Infections in

children and adults are recurrent during life and protective immunity against the pathogen is inefficient, despite the production of antibodies after infection.[6, 8] The inefficient immune response against hRSV is partly due to virulence factors, such as the NS1 and NS2 proteins that interfere with the immune response against this pathogen.[8] The severity of hRSV infection is associated with the pre-existence of several risk factors, the most important being age and sex.[9] Regarding age, the groups that present severe complications are babies, infants and the elderly.[9] In fact, 10–28% of hospitalized infants infected with hRSV are < 6 weeks old, 49–70% below 6 months and 66–100% under 1-year-old.[10] The severity of the disease in the elderly has been associated with additional pathological conditions like cardiopulmonary and immunosuppressive diseases.[11] Moreover, it has been reported that males are most

susceptible to suffer severe ALRTI than females.[10] Indeed, male infants are 1·5 times more likely to require hospital admission due to hRSV infection than females.[12] Other conditions such as prematurity and congenital diseases have been implicated in the risk for severe hRSV infection.[9] Among the most important risk

factors are chronic lung disease, cystic fibrosis and congenital heart problems; all these conditions contribute to severe ALRTI and patients need intensive care Selleckchem APO866 and mechanical ventilation.[9] Further, it has been reported that malnutrition is an important risk factor in developing countries and both smoke exposure and maternal smoking increase the severity of ALRTI due to hRSV infection.[9] Despite more than 50 years of intensive Nintedanib nmr research on hRSV pathogenesis, antiviral drugs and treatment against the virus are very limited and no vaccine is currently available to induce long-term protection against hRSV. The study and design of new approaches of prophylactic drugs and vaccines against hRSV is imperative to control the annual outbreaks of the virus and to decrease the high rate of infant hospitalization. To accomplish these aims it would be necessary to understand the virus life cycle and the pathology it causes. Here, we review and describe the most recent findings associated with hRSV infection, pathology and virulence. Also, we discuss strategies developed recently to prevent and treat hRSV infection. Human respiratory syncytial virus belongs to the Mononegavirales order in the Paramyxoviridae family, and Pneumovirinae subfamily, genus Pneumovirus.[13] The Paramyxoviridae family also includes other viruses such as metapneumovirus, and parainfluenza, mumps, measles, Nipah and Hendra viruses.