The United States of America has become the world’s first country to approve the Respiratory Syncytial Virus.
RSV is a common respiratory virus that typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two, but RSV can be dangerous, especially in infants and the elderly.
Peter Marks, the senior director of the US Food and Drug Administration, revealed the news in a statement on Wednesday.
He said, “Today’s (Wednesday) approval of the first RSV vaccine is an important public health achievement to prevent a disease which can be life-threatening.”
RSV can cause pneumonia and bronchiolitis, which is an inflammation of the small airways deep inside the lungs.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that RSV leads to approximately 60,000 to 120,000 hospitalisations and 6,000 to 10,000 deaths among adults 65 years of age and older.
However, awareness of the disease has increased in recent years, in part because of the strain it has placed on hospital systems over the last two winters.
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