{"id":348869,"date":"2025-12-15T05:04:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/348869\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:04:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:04:21","slug":"rsv-infections-in-babies-may-raise-asthma-risk-later-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/348869\/","title":{"rendered":"RSV infections in babies may raise asthma risk later: Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Delhi: An international team of scientists has found compelling evidence that early-infancy infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) significantly increases the risk of developing childhood asthma<\/a>.\u00a0 The risk is especially higher in children with a family history of allergy or asthma.<\/p>\n

The study, published in the Science Immunology journal, suggests that protecting newborns against RSV could substantially reduce asthma cases later in life.<\/p>\n

“Childhood asthma is a complex disease with many contributing factors,” said Prof. Bart Lambrecht from VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) and Ghent University in Belgium.<\/p>\n

“We found that early-life RSV infection and genetic allergy risk interact in a very specific way that pushes the immune system toward asthma. The encouraging news is that this process can be prevented,” Lambrecht added.<\/p>\n

The team, including researchers from Denmark, combined population-wide health registry data from all Danish children and their parents with controlled laboratory experiments. They found that early viral infection and inherited allergy risk amplify one another.<\/p>\n

Infants who experience severe RSV infections in the first months of life show an increased likelihood of immune cells overreacting to common allergens, such as house dust mites.<\/p>\n

This effect is dramatically intensified when asthma or allergy runs in the family, as allergen-specific antibodies passed from parents to the newborn further heighten sensitivity.<\/p>\n

Importantly, the team found that when newborns were protected from RSV in experimental models, these harmful immune shifts did not occur — and asthma development was prevented.<\/p>\n

“With RSV prevention now becoming widely accessible, we have an opportunity to improve long-term respiratory health, not just prevent RSV hospitalisations,” said Prof. Hamida Hammad (VIB-UGent).<\/p>\n

“This is not just a laboratory insight. It’s a message that should help parents choose RSV prevention with confidence,” Hammad added.<\/p>\n

Maternal vaccination during the third trimester of pregnancy and passive immunisation of newborns with long-acting antibodies are being introduced in many countries. Yet despite their strong ability to prevent RSV hospitalisations, uptake remains inconsistent.<\/p>\n

“This is a moment where policy, science, and paediatricians can come together,” Lambrecht said. “If preventing RSV infection also reduces asthma risk, the benefits for families and health systems could be enormous.” (IANS)<\/p>\n

Also Read: Night shifts may raise risk of asthma in women: Study<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Delhi: An international team of scientists has found compelling evidence that early-infancy infection with respiratory syncytial virus…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,96405,4380,137,192401],"class_list":{"0":"post-348869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-babies","11":"tag-childhood-asthma","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-rsv-infections"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}