RESCEU Study: Defining the Burden of Disease of Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Europe in Infants

The REspiratory Syncytial virus Consortium in EUrope (RESCEU) is an Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI) effort funded by the EU under the H2020 framework to define and understand the burden of disease caused by human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. RSV causes severe disease in individuals at the extremes of the age spectrum and in high risk groups. It was estimated that RSV was associated with 34 million cases of acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI), 3.4 million ARTI hospitalizations and 55,000 to 199,000 deaths in children \<5 years in 2005 worldwide. These estimates were based on limited data and there is a substantial gap in knowledge on morbidity and associated healthcare and social costs in Europe. New vaccines and therapeutics against RSV are in development and will soon be available on the European market. RESCEU will deliver knowledge of the incidence and burden of disease RSV in young children and older adults in Europe, which is essential for stakeholders (governments, etc) to take decisions about prophylaxis and treatment. Objective: To determine the burden of disease due to RSV in young children. Study design: Prospective epidemiological, observational, multi-country, multicenter cohort study. Study population: Birth cohort of healthy infants (follow-up from birth until the age of 3 years maximum): * Passive birth cohort (n=9,000). * Active birth cohort (n=1,000). Main study parameters/endpoints: The primary endpoint of the study is the incidence of RSV infection-associated ARTI, RSV associated medically attended (MA) ARTI (active birth cohort) and RSV related hospitalization (passive birth cohort) in infants (\< 1 year) during 3 RSV seasons. In addition, a major secondary endpoint is RSV attributable burden of wheezing.