{"id":7298,"date":"2023-02-07T12:20:05","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T17:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/?page_id=7298"},"modified":"2026-09-17T16:24:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:24:56","slug":"respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/epidemiology\/epidemiology\/epidemiology-fact-sheets\/respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv\/","title":{"rendered":"Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What is Respiratory Syncytial Virus?<\/h2>\n

Respiratory Syncytial (sin-SISH-uhl) Virus (RSV), is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms including runny nose, cough, sneezing, and fever. Typically, it affects the upper airways, but can involve the lungs and breathing passages.<\/p>\n

Who gets Respiratory Syncytial Virus?<\/h2>\n

Anyone can be infected with RSV at any age and more than once in a lifetime. Most of the time, RSV infections in children and adults are not serious and resolve on their own. However, RSV can be serious, especially in infants, some young children, older adults, and older adults with underlying illnesses. People at increased risk of severe RSV illness include very young infants, premature babies, young children with lung or heart diseases, older adults, older adults with heart or lung disease, and people with a weakened immune system.<\/p>\n

RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lung) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in children younger than one year of age in the United States. Almost all children will have an RSV infection by their second birthday.<\/p>\n

What are the symptoms of Respiratory Syncytial Virus?<\/h2>\n

The symptoms of RSV usually appear in stages and not all at once. Symptoms of RSV infection usually include:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n