Byington C.L

Highlights • In immunocompetent adults, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) primarily causes respiratory failure in elderly patients with multiple comorbidities. • Clinical presentation is often severe. Twenty-six patients (26/104, 25%) needed ventilatory support and 21 (21/104, 20%) were admitted to the intensive care unit. • The one-month mortality in immunocompetent adults with RSV infection and oxygen requirement was 13%.

Data collection and quality assessment Data from relevant studies were extracted by two independent reviewers. Any discrepancies were checked against the source document by a third reviewer. The data extraction template was developed and piloted to capture information on study design and methods, patient selection criteria and characteristics, intervention and comparator test descriptions, and outcomes and results from the included studies.

Highlights • A novel methodology for evaluating transmission of respiratory viruses • It is feasible to recruit children as index cases and adults as contacts and evaluate virus transmission in a healthcare setting • Transmission occurred in 15% of an infected child's contacts following a 30-minute controlled interaction • Transmission occurred more commonly when the adult contact was female.