New vaccines and treatments are linked to a sharp drop in infant RSV hospitalization, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Last winter, the first RSV season, vaccines given during pregnancy were widely available, and monoclonal antibodies were given for the first eight months of life to prevent RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

RSV is the main reason for infant hospitalization in the United States, with newborns under two months of age facing the highest risk.

RSV hospitalizations for babies under seven months of age fell by as much as 56% this year compared to the 2018-2020 RSV season before the Covid pandemic took off, depending on the data used. Among newborns, hospitalizations fell by as much as 71%.

Emergency physician Heather Auerbach noted this trend: “This year’s RSV is certainly less than RSV compared to the last two to three years.”

Toddlers who are indeed sick enough to go to the emergency room usually require a lower level of care, she said.

“I think I have fewer critical kids this year than in the past few years,” she said.

“Even if the kids are sick, even if they end up in the hospital, there is a difference between just some suction and oxygen and the need for high flow (oxygen) or Bipap or PICU or something like that.”

Auerbach hopes that her family can benefit from RSV shooting and shares that her son was hospitalized with RSV when he was only three weeks old in January 2020. He was born without complications and then became ill.

"Suddenly, his breathing got worse," Auerbach said. He was less alert and began to use his stomach muscles to help him breathe - a classic sign of respiratory complications of RSV.

Even if babies do not show these signs, they still have a risk of RSV infection.

"Little babies with RSV can have periods of apnea where they stop breathing, and even if they have no other symptoms, they can happen suddenly."

Her son was taken to the hospital, and when he returned home, she and her husband were also doctors and needed to draw mucus regularly.

"I hope the shooting was there by then, but we've been a few years too early," Auerbach said. "I really think it could save him hospitalization."

For parents, the RSV hospital stay for a child can be an incredible time, full of uncertainty and fear. The length of hospital stay is destructive and expensive.

"The kids get very, very sick from it," Auerbach said, without vaccines and preventing any vaccines is a major breakthrough.

She also wondered that the lens could prevent other complications even for a while.

Her son started to breathe a few months after he was sick. He was diagnosed with asthma, "very early and unusual." Auerbach, her husband and son's pulmonologist, believes this is related to RSV infection.

"There is no guarantee that he might not end up with (asthma). But do I think he will have it at six months? No."

According to a tool for tracking RSV hospitalization, CDC's RSV-NET, the peak hospitalization rate for children below one year is about half of the peak of the 2023-24 season and one third of the peak of the 2022-23 season.

Such a drastic decline only applies to these very young children.

According to RSV-NET, children aged 1-4 and 5-17 have higher hospitalization rates this winter than last winter.

"Older children who do not meet RSV prevention products have higher RSV hospitalization rates, which suggests that this season may be more severe than previous seasons," CDC spokesman Jasmine Reed said.

“It is worth noting that the hospitalization rate for babies under three months is half that of the previous seasons.”

Usually, in the worse RSV season, more young babies are hospitalized. She said the baby's hospitalization rate is still "significantly lower", which could mean that the lenses are working well.

This may mean that these shots are even better than the numbers suggest, as hospitalization declines can also drop in the worse season.

These trends are tracked by new CDC research. According to the new Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN), 43% of RSV hospitalizations decreased by 43% and 43% of RSV hospitalizations decreased by 43%.

When researchers excluded Houston from NVSN data — the city saw an RSV season before the prevention effects were widely available — dropped from 28% to 56%.

The biggest change occurs in newborns under two months, the most vulnerable group for RSV infection.

According to RSV-NET, RSV hospitalizations fell by 52% among these very young babies. According to NVSN, the rate fell 45% - but when Houston was excluded, the decline was 71%.

The researchers say older children don’t see the same benefits, suggesting that these lenses are behind the reduction, not changes in behavior, testing or transmission rates.

Children over eight months of hospitalized at a higher rate this winter are largely ineligible for preventive effects compared to 2018-20 years.

This means that a large decline in hospitalizations in young babies may be underestimated, the researchers concluded.

Monoclonal antibodies for treatment of Nirsevimab can be given to babies under eight months of age when they are born at birth, or during the RSV season, or when they enter winter. If you have a medical condition, it is given to an infant of eight to 19 months old.

During the RSV season, usually in the RSV season between September and January, the Abrysvo vaccine for pregnant women is Pfizer's Abrysvo vaccine. These antibodies provide newborns with several months of protection.

The study shows that vaccine intake and preventive treatment intake “may have a significant impact on protecting young babies from the effects of serious illnesses.”

“In the coming seasons, the use of preventive RSV prevention products may lead to an increase in infant hospitalization.”