RSV: New hope to reduce hospitalisations as WA study finds flu vaccines could be having protective effect

The flu vaccine could be reducing the number of children hospitalised with the potentially deadly respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a new study has shown.

RSV — for which there is no vaccine yet — causes only mild respiratory illness in adults but can lead to bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children under two.

A Telethon Kids Institute study investigated whether the seasonal influenza needle reduced RSV hospitalisations in children.

Researchers examined data from 360,994 WA children under the age of seven.

The study found flu vaccination rates were low before 2008, but in 2009 there was a 36 per cent increase in flu vaccinations in children aged six to 23 months old due to a State-funded preschool vaccination program.

The increased rates of vaccination coincided with a drop in RSV cases. Over five years there were 1193 fewer RSV hospitalisations.

Associate Professor Hannah Moore said the study suggested a protective effect that warranted further investigation.

“It’s a really positive step as it does show there is a potential benefit from vaccinating with the flu vaccine, not only for influenza, but also for other viruses,” she said.

“Through this robust analysis that we’ve done, I think it’s important now to have some further thought on how viruses interact together.

“What we want to do now is really see other studies that could use more recent data to see if we can replicate these findings.”

Australia’s RSV hospitalisation rate is about eight times higher than influenza hospitalisations in children aged under five-years-old and this year has been no different.

In the week ending July 23, 81 children were hospitalised in WA with RSV while 18 children were hospitalised with influenza.

There have already been 4107 RSV cases in WA this year, which is 416 cases fewer than for all of 2022. So far this year, 660 children have been hospitalised with the virus.

In June, The Sunday Times revealed RSV was the number one cause of hospitalisations for children under five with nearly 16,000 admissions in Australia every year.