RESCEU

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a very common virus that causes serious chest infections, especially in babies and young children, but also in older adults and people with weakened immune systems or existing heart or lung conditions. Each year, RSV causes over 3.6 million hospitalisations and about 100 000 deaths in children. The virus can lead to illnesses like bronchiolitis and pneumonia and puts major pressure on hospitals every winter.

The RESCEU project was set up to better understand how big a problem RSV is across Europe and how it affects patients, families, and health services. Instead of starting from scratch, the project brought together existing data, samples, and research from many countries and combined this with new studies. This created one of the most comprehensive collections of RSV data and biological samples in Europe, which will support research for many years to come.

Over six years, RESCEU produced a large amount of high-quality evidence showing how often RSV causes illness, hospital admissions, and deaths in both children and adults, as well as the costs to healthcare systems. The project also studied how effective and cost-effective new RSV prevention options including vaccines and antibody treatments could be.

Thanks to RESCEU, disease burden data were made available that could aid evidence-based decision-making for future RSV immunisation programmes. The project published revised RSV global disease burden estimates in young children as well as the first multi-country estimates of RSV’s disease burden on healthy infants in Europe; and the first global estimates for RSV infection in preterm infants. They also reported on the RSV-associated burden on hospital admissions and the number of bed days in children under five in Europe. Data was also published on the age-specific estimates of RSV-associated hospitalisations in six European countries and the economic burden of RSV.

RESCEU worked in close collaboration with the WHO and the ECDC to make practical use of its findings. The ECDC used the disease burden estimates generated by RESCEU to alert member states regarding the RSV-associated burden on healthcare systems for the winter of 2022-23. The project also developed two sets of recommendations in collaboration with the WHO, ECDC and other European public health agencies on RSV surveillance in Europe. This work led to the publication of the ECDC/WHO operational considerations for integrated surveillance of respiratory viruses and the imminent approval of RSV vaccines, and in 2022 the ECDC recommended to the European Commission that RSV be included within the list of notifiable diseases for Europe.

To help countries to develop robust strategies to prevent and treat RSV, the RESCEU project summarised and published a set of guidelines.  In addition, the estimates that RESCEU provided regarding national and regional-level disease burden of RSV in children and adults, as well as estimates for cost-effectiveness for vaccines and monoclonals in young children are currently being used by national authorities to inform deployment decisions on the best preventative treatments for RSV.

The project developed a very successful RSV awareness campaign through social media and mainstream media, and developed a strong RSV patient network which regularly shares updates via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

RESCEU delivered a rich dataset and biobank, which were also used in the IMI PROMISE project that aimed to address knowledge gaps on RSV. Several potential biomarkers were also discovered by the project, which need to be validated in future studies. The clinical study sites that were used in RESCEU have now become part of several trial networks for respiratory pathogens.

Overall, RESCEU has laid the groundwork for better prevention, earlier detection, and smarter decision-making around RSV. Its data, tools, and biological samples will continue to support future research and public health planning in Europe and beyond, helping to reduce the impact of RSV for years to come.